


Run Away Home

by MicrosuedeMouse



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: (abuse not explicitly described), Domestic Fluff, F/M, Foster parents au, Found Family, Future Fic, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, MomGwen, Slow Burn, basically canon compliant, dadvid, will update tags as needed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-26
Updated: 2018-01-14
Packaged: 2018-12-07 04:02:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 67,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11615463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MicrosuedeMouse/pseuds/MicrosuedeMouse
Summary: Max was the last person Gwen expected to find standing outside her apartment early on a Wednesday morning in September. But he had nowhere else to go. And the only logical next step was to call David.





	1. Runaway

**Author's Note:**

> HEY HI I've written four chapters of this and planned a bunch more + an ending so I figured it was... time to start posting.
> 
> 1\. I don't know where the 'David is Canadian' idea started but being Canadian myself I love it. There are frequent low-key references to his Canadianness that you may not catch onto even if you're Canadian, but they make me giggle. (Also I do headcanon, in this fic at least, that he comes from my city, just to make some things simpler. It may never come up, but hey. I do live in the waterfall capital of the world, so that's probably up his alley.)  
> 1b. As I am Canadian: catch me constantly consulting Wikipedia to make sure things work the way I think they do in America... but also, forgive me for any mistakes made on that front, lmao.  
> 2\. This'll be some overarching plot and also lots of general domestic/family fluff. If you wanna drop me some of your favourite domestic tropes and cliches, I'll take them into consideration for use... I need more fodder! :D  
> 3\. I'll be using the tag "cc Run Away Home" for anything related to this fic on my tumblr, which will include some doodles and other bonus content over time? Watch the tag or follow me @ microsuedemouse if you want to see any of that - I have some floorplans/doodles of Gwen's apartment I'm working on, for one thing. You can also use the tag if you want to post anything related to the fic (:
> 
> Okay I think that's all the relevant commentary for tonight! Let's go, and let me know what you think! Comments make new chapters come faster :')

Gwen was at the tiny kitchen table, eating breakfast in her pyjamas and hopefully checking her email for responses to her ‘roommate needed’ ad. She and Cait had only been a month and a half into their lease when Cait got the news about her dad being sick and had to move home. The apartment was way too nice for Gwen to willingly give up, but also way too nice for her to afford on her own for very long. No answers yet, but she would keep her fingers crossed.

She was just finishing her corn flakes when there was a small, hesitant knock on the front door. Wondering who could be at her door at nine in the morning on a Wednesday, she padded quietly into the entryway and yawned as she undid the chain lock.

The door swung open, and she found herself looking down, into the bright blue-green eyes of a tired eleven-year-old.

There was a long pause, and then she asked, “Max? What the fuck are you doing here?”

He was staring up at her, shifting nervously from one foot to the other in the outdoor hall, looking vulnerable and frightened in a way that she hadn’t seen on him since he’d pounded on her cabin door over a year ago, shouting that David was unconscious.

“This– this was a stupid idea,” he said immediately, trying to replace the anxiety with his usual crankiness as he turned back away from the door. Despite the morning chill, he was dressed only in his usual hoodie and jeans, a ragged blue backpack hanging from his shoulders.

“Max, wait,” Gwen said quickly, realizing something was very wrong. “Come back, come inside. It’s okay.”

He glanced at her over his shoulder, still clearly nervous, and she stepped back to make room for him to come through. After a moment he turned back and slipped past her, letting the bag slide from his shoulders. He clutched it in front of him as she shut the door and, on instinct, locked it again.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“I–” He stopped, looked down, coughed. Hugged his bag more tightly. “I ran away.” Another long pause, and she was on the verge of asking a question – which of the hundred on her mind, she didn’t know – when he continued. “I… I remembered you mentioning to David in August that you were moving when you got back. You told him the neighbourhood and the name of the building, so I tracked you down based on that. Your name’s on the mailbox downstairs. I… didn’t know where else to go.”

Gwen ran a hand down her face. She could ask why he’d run, but she had a feeling he didn’t want to say, and she also had a feeling she already knew. She could also ask why he didn’t know where else to go, but when she thought about it, that was clear too: he’d be too quickly found if he went to a friend’s house. So what came out of her mouth was: “You don’t even live in the city, do you? How’d you get here?”

“I’m not from far,” Max answered, looking at the ground. “I took the bus. A… bunch of busses. And then I walked. It took pretty much all night to find you.”

She could feel the anxiety rising in her stomach, but she couldn’t submit to it yet. She had to deal with the basics first. “You’re not hurt, are you?” she asked. “Are you hungry?”

“I’m not hurt,” he answered, shaking his head. He still wasn’t meeting her eye. “I’m starving though.”

“Okay. Okay. C’mere, the kitchen’s this way. I don’t have tons, but you can… help yourself, I guess. Fuck. Okay. You like your eggs scrambled, right?”

“Yeah,” he said quietly, following her around the corner into her miniscule kitchen. It struck her that he hadn’t sworn even once yet, and that was maybe the strangest thing about this encounter so far.

“There’s bread in the basket over there, and butter in the fridge, if you want to make toast,” she said, pointing at the counter to her right as she dug in a cupboard for a frying pan.

She wracked her brains while she cooked his eggs. The handbook at the camp had some basic guidelines about what to do if a kid confided in the counselors about abuse, but it was just the legal stuff. What they were obligated to do. And right now, she wasn’t his counselor, so she didn’t know if even that still applied in the same way. She poured a glass of orange juice and chugged it, trying to stay calm.

Max was halfway done his toast when she dumped the eggs onto his plate. “Ketchup?” she asked.

“Nah,” he answered. Then, slowly, “You got hot sauce, though?”

“Think so.” She turned and rummaged through the condiments in her fridge, then found what she was looking for. “Here.” She sat down across from him at the little table as he shook the sauce liberally over his meal. “I guess you’re not gonna tell me what happened, huh?”

He didn’t look up, didn’t even acknowledge what she’d said. Shovelling the eggs into his mouth, it was like he hadn’t even heard her. She watched him for a moment, took in the bags under his eyes, the heavy set of his eyebrows – the way his hand shook slightly if he slowed down. The way he still clutched the backpack in his lap like he was ready to turn tail any second.

“Okay,” Gwen said. “You don’t have to. I’ve… wondered before.” She bit her lip hard, trying not to let him see how much she was freaking out. He’d come to her for security, so the last thing he needed was one of her panic attacks. “I’m… I’m gonna call David. Is that okay with you?”

He shrugged. “I guess,” he said slowly. “Can I have some of that juice?”

“Yeah.” She poured him a glass and then picked up her phone. She rarely ever phoned David when he was home, because the long-distance fees were brutal, but this was important.

He answered quickly. “Gwen? Is something wrong?”

“How did you know?” she asked.

“You never call me,” he answered. “What’s going on?”

“Don’t panic,” she told him, even though she knew her own voice was shaking a bit. She turned so Max couldn’t see her face. “I’m just, uh… Max is here. Like, in my apartment.”

“What?” He sounded alarmed, which she supposed was reasonable.

“He… he ran away, and he tracked me down based on some stuff he heard me tell you in the summer.” She cupped her hand around the receiver. “You know how we always wondered… I mean… he won’t tell me what happened, but it’s clear…”

“It’s gonna be okay,” David told her immediately. “Have you contacted the police?”

Apparently Max could hear the conversation, because he jumped up instantly, eyes wide. “Don’t!” he exclaimed. “I don’t want them to take me back!”

David cursed softly on the other side. “Okay. It’s fine. Don’t call them yet. We can deal with this,” he said.

“I won’t,” Gwen said, giving Max a meaningful look. He seemed to believe her, and sat back down slowly. She took the phone out of the kitchen, crossing her small living room to sit on the couch. “David, I have no idea what to do here,” she said quietly. “I’m trying to keep it together for Max, but I’m kind of freaking out.”

On the other end, she could hear David rummaging around. She pictured him digging through a closet in his apartment, which she’d never seen. “Listen,” he told her. “Last I checked, the busses from here to NYC leave a couple times a day. If you let me go now, I can probably get to you before midnight.”

“What?” she asked, taken aback. “Really?”

“I’m coming to help you,” he said reassuringly. “This is going to be fine. Do you have food? And what does he have with him? He might need clothes or toiletries. He’s not hurt, is he?”

“No, he says he’s fine,” she answered. “I don’t know what he has but I’ll check.”

“I know you’re strapped for money, so I can pay you for everything if need be,” David said. “I’ve got some cash put away. Listen, I’ve got to make some arrangements, but I’ll text you when I’m on my way, okay?”

“O-okay,” she answered, taking a deep breath and then letting it out slowly. “Okay. Thanks, David. You – you have my new address?”

“I sent you that housewarming card, remember?” he said, his voice warm.

“Right. So… I’ll see you tonight?”

“I promise,” he assured her.

“Okay.”

 

North of the border, David had already hauled his suitcase out of the closet and opened his laptop to pull up the bus schedules. If he got himself together fast enough, there was a bus he could take in two hours. The trip down was twelve, and then it would just be a cab ride to Gwen’s apartment building. He’d have to take an emergency leave from work, but that would be fine. The manager was a family friend. And he’d call his mother quickly, just so she knew.

Years of camping made him an efficient packer. Everything important to his life fit in a large suitcase and a sturdy backpack. Clothes, toiletries, electronics, both passports. A sandwich for the bus ride. He told his mother to take anything perishable out of his kitchen, because it might as well get eaten. And then he wrote a quick email to his superintendent, locked his apartment, and set off for the bus station.

As promised, he’d be at Gwen’s by midnight.

 

“Okay. David’s on his way to the bus station. Supposing there’s no trouble at the border, he should be here by late tonight,” Gwen said, looking at the text on her phone. Just knowing he was on his way calmed her down a fraction. She didn’t want to deal with this alone; she wasn’t that good at important decisions.

“Wait,” Max said, perched on the far end of her couch, still curled around his backpack like it was the only thing keeping him safe. “It’s like ten-thirty in the morning. And the border? Where’s he even coming from?”

She glanced up in surprise. “Canada,” she told him.

“David’s Canadian?” he asked, raising his eyebrows. “That explains… a lot.”

“He’s a dual citizen, technically,” she explained. “But most of the year he lives in Ontario near his mom. Not too far from the border. Still a long bus ride, though.”

“Huh.” Max shrugged and looked down.

Gwen watched him for a moment. Then she asked, “What do you have in the backpack, Max?”

He looked at her suspiciously. “Why?”

“Because it’d be good to know what you brought with you before I go buy you stuff,” she said drily, raising her eyebrows.

“Oh.” He looked down at the bag, then unzipped it slowly. Gwen watched, from the distance he’d set, as he shuffled through its contents, very clearly crammed in in a hurry. “Uh… a couple shirts, some underwear, a pair of jeans, a handful of socks,” he listed as he looked. “Got my iPod and my DS and their chargers… um… I have my wallet, and my meds, and some granola bars, and a flashlight… fuck, I forgot my toothbrush.”

“I can get you a toothbrush,” she said, opening a blank note on her phone to start a shopping list. “Before I lose track, though, how long will your meds last you? If you’re running out that could be a problem.”

He peered at the bottle. “I think they just got refilled a couple weeks ago,” he said. “So like, a month and a half?”

“Okay, good.” It was kind of scary to think that far ahead, but Gwen was trying hard to be practical here. “Aside from the toothbrush, you need anything in particular in terms of toiletries? Bathroom-type stuff,” she clarified at his puzzled expression.

“I mean… I guess you have toothpaste and soap and shampoo and stuff,” he said slowly. “I don’t think there’s anything else?”

“What size are your shirts?” she asked. “I don’t get to do laundry very often so I’m gonna pick up a couple just in case.”

Max pulled one out of his bag and tossed it to her. “You don’t have to,” he said in a small voice.

“It’s okay.” She made a note of his size and carried on. “You need anything else? Any grocery requests? Let’s not get carried away, but…”

“Stronger hot sauce than whatever that was in your fridge,” he told her, and she saw a spark of the Max she was used to in his eyes for a moment. She smiled.

“You got it.” She wrote it down. “Anything else you need?”

“…Your wifi password?” he asked hesitantly. She glanced up at him, and he held up the iPod. “I wanna message Neil and Nikki. My folks have probably called theirs by now…”

“Oh,” she said. That made sense. She reached out a hand, and after a second he gave her the device. Logging him onto her wifi, she said, “No illicit downloads or using up too much bandwidth, my plan isn’t that great. And, listen…” she looked up at him again. “Be careful who you message, and don’t… tell them where you are, you know?”

“Obviously,” he said with an eyeroll, taking it back. Looking down at the screen, he added more quietly, “They… they kinda know what’s up at home. They won’t tell anyone I messaged them. I just… wanna tell them I’m okay.”

“Yeah.” Gwen glanced at the floor for a moment, then got to her feet. “I’m gonna get dressed and then go shopping. Uh, do you… want to come?”

He looked up and raised an eyebrow. “I’m pretty sure there’ll be, like, an AMBER alert or whatever by now.”

“Right.” She bit down on the long string of curses that threatened to burst forward. “Right. Okay. Be right back.” She slipped into her room and quickly shed her tank top and pyjama pants, dressing warmly for the cool autumn weather. When she came back out, she saw Max’s eyelids drooping even as he tried to type something out on the screen of his iPod.

“Hey,” she said, approaching him again. “You’ve been up all night. You wanna sleep? My bed’s real comfy,” she offered, uncharacteristically gentle. “I’ll be gone for less than an hour. There’s a Target right around the corner.”

Max looked up at her for a moment, and he had that vulnerable look again that almost scared her, it was so strange. “I… yeah, okay,” he said after a pause. He hopped off the couch, hoisted the backpack onto his shoulder, and followed her to her bedroom. He gave the room a cursory glance as he put his bag down on the corner of the mattress.

“I’ll lock the door behind me, and I’ll be as fast as I can, okay?” she told him. “You’re gonna be fine. I’m – me and David, we’re gonna make sure you’re fine.”

He looked at her for a moment, then nodded and clambered onto the bed. She turned to leave as he pulled up the covers, but glanced back when she heard him say her name.

“Yeah?”

“I’m… I’m really tired, but even if I’m asleep when you come back, can you come in and tell me you’re here?” he asked, looking down at the blanket.

“Sure,” she answered, nodding. “I’ll be back before you know it. Get some rest, Max.”

 

Leaving her bike chained outside the store and hoping it would still be there when she came back out, Gwen grabbed a cart and did her all-time fastest department store run. She scooted through the grocery aisles, dumping things into her cart on impulse, grabbing anything she remembered Max liking at camp and making sure to find a stronger hot sauce as well. Then she found him a toothbrush and a novelty bathroom cup with his name emblazoned on the side. In the clothes section she grabbed a few shirts, plus a pack of underwear that would hopefully fit him and a pair of pyjamas as well. Thinking on her feet, she picked him up a pillow and a throw blanket as well. She didn’t really know what she was doing, but she thought maybe he’d feel a little bit more comfortable if he had something of his own that wasn’t just the bare necessities.

Thanking god for self-checkouts, she stuffed as much of her purchase as she could into the saddlebags on her bike and headed home as fast as possible. Her stomach was in knots, and she half-expected her building to be surrounded by cops when she got there, but it was just as quiet as it had been when she left. She breathed a sigh of relief when the door was locked behind her again. Glancing at the clock, she nodded. Just under an hour, as planned.

She quickly put her groceries away, then pulled the packaging and tags off of the pillow and blanket she’d bought him. Stuffing the pillow into a case, she quietly opened her bedroom door and crept in.

Max was fast asleep in her bed. That was good; he had clearly been exhausted. Gwen didn’t want to wake him, but he’d asked, so she spread the throw blanket over top of her own bedspread and then perched on the edge of the mattress next to him. “Hey,” she said softly, not sure if she should touch him. He grunted and opened his eyes slightly. “I came back, as promised.”

“Thanks, Gwen,” he mumbled, almost unintelligibly.

She nodded, putting the pillow she’d bought next to him. “This is for you.”

Eyes already closing again, Max nodded sleepily and wrapped his arms around the pillow, hugging it the same way he’d been hugging his backpack earlier.

Gwen took a moment to breathe, then got up and pulled the blinds. She shut the door behind her when she left and put away the rest of her purchases, shoving the bags into a box under the sink. Then, still working on her breathing, she sat down on the couch.

She looked at her phone for a minute, then sent David a text. _He’s sleeping. I got the necessities for now. Keeping it together. See you soon._

At a loss, she turned on her TV and searched her Netflix queue for the trashiest, most distracting show she could find.

 

Gwen did her best to focus on the TV as much as she could and spend as little time as possible actually thinking. She texted on and off with David whenever he would reply, though he spent much of his bus ride dozing. It wasn’t like there was tons to talk about, but he was good about reassuring her when she started to get wound up.

She was three-quarters done a season of some kind of garbage South American reality series when Max emerged slowly from her bedroom. “Hey,” she said, glancing over at his tired face. “The new pillow and blanket in there are for you.”

He nodded. “Bathroom?”

“By the front door,” she told him, pointing. “You have a cup and a toothbrush in there, if you need ‘em.”

When he came back out, he hesitated by her bedroom door for a moment, then slipped back in. He returned with the pillow and blanket she’d bought him, then trudged drowsily over to the couch and curled up with them at the far end from her. “The fuck are you watching?” he asked with a frown, his crankiness dialled down considerably by fatigue.

“I don’t even know. I’ve only half been paying attention.” She glanced at the screen and realized it would be doubly confusing to him, given that it was in Spanish. “You want subtitles?”

“Whatever,” he said with a shrug. He was checking his iPod again.

“How are you feeling?” Gwen tried carefully.

“…Hungry,” he answered after a moment. Then he added, “Neil and Nikki deleted my messages so their parents wouldn’t see them.”

“That sounds like a good idea.” She bit her tongue, thinking, then said, “It’s about dinner time. You wanna check out those takeout menus on your left and I’ll order something in?”

He glanced over the arm of the sofa at a pile of papers on the narrow end table, reaching over to leaf through them for a moment. “The pizza and wings place any good?” he asked.

“Pretty decent,” she said. “I like the pizza; the wings are fine. Their barbecue sauce is pretty tasty.”

“Cool.” He picked up the menu and skimmed it for a second. “Yeah, pizza sounds good.”

She reached for her phone, pulling up the online order form. “What do you want on it?”

“I like a lot of meat.”

“Soda?”

“Uh, sure.”

She let him take control of her Netflix account and pick a movie – he went for mindless, over-the-top action, which suited them both – and they settled in for a night of distraction. Max nervously stayed out of view of the door when she opened it for the pizza delivery, and she couldn’t blame him. Half of her was amazed he was still in the apartment and hadn’t bolted entirely.

At the end of their movie he told her to go ahead and start in on the sequel, and she glanced over and saw the bags under his eyes. “You sure?” she asked. “You look like maybe you should get some more sleep.”

Max shook his head. “I’ll… I’ll stay up a bit longer.”

She watched him for a minute, wondering if she was reading him right. It was hard to believe he was really forcing himself to stay up just to see David – but then, she knew that under all his bad attitude, Max really did care for the overenthusiastic counselor. “Sure thing,” she said. “But let me know if you get too tired and wanna turn in.”

Quite honestly, she was getting tired herself, but she was also way too wired to sleep any time soon. Throughout the movie she was surreptitiously checking her phone – keeping it on her right side, where hopefully Max couldn’t see – waiting for news from David. “He’s in the city,” she told Max as their movie was ending, and she was amazed at her ability to keep her voice level and more or less casual. What she felt was a strange mixture of profound relief and mounting anxiety that, together, made her want to cry.

Gwen didn’t know what they were watching any more – something else Max had picked; her eyes had glazed over a bit and she’d retreated into her brain – when there was a knock at her door, and she tripped over herself getting up and rushing down the hall. Her hands were trembling as she undid the locks and threw open the door. “ _David,_ ” she said, apparently unable to muster a more meaningful greeting.

“I’m here,” the redhead answered, letting go of his suitcase and opening his arms. Gwen hugged him with more enthusiasm than she’d ever done before, and he held her for a moment, perhaps sensing her anxiety. But then, she’d been texting him about it all day – maybe he didn’t need to sense it. Her fingers dug into the thick, soft fabric of the green sweatshirt he wore.

“Come in,” she told him, prying herself reluctantly off his neck and retreating from the door. He squeezed into her narrow entryway, hauling his luggage behind him and putting it down when he reached the living room.

“…Hi, David,” Max greeted, suddenly nervous again. He had stood up, but was now staring at his feet. Gwen’s heart broke as she watched him pull the blanket tighter around his shoulders, unable to meet David’s eye. This wasn’t the Max she knew.

David dropped to his knees and wrapped his arms around Max’s shoulders without hesitation. “You’re going to be okay, Max,” he said, his voice comforting. “I’m going to do everything I possibly can. I promise, you won’t have to go home. Everything is going to be all right.”

From a few feet away, Gwen watched as Max, surprised and overwhelmed, closed his eyes against tears and buried his face in David’s shoulder. The blanket fell to the floor as Max clung to the man’s back. Gwen turned around and wiped urgently at her own eyes. She still didn’t want Max to see her cry; he didn’t need that.

Once everyone had calmed down a bit, David sat down with Max on the couch to try to talk with him. Gwen busied herself in the kitchen, boiling the kettle and preparing a few cups of tea. She knew how David took his, but she wasn’t sure Max’s preference, so she just brought the milk and sugar out with her, setting them on the cheap, wobbly coffee table in front of the couch.

David wasn’t able to coax much out of the boy, but he did convince him to open up a little about why he’d come to them. “It was partly because I figured I’d be able to find Gwen,” Max mumbled into his mug, face red and eyebrows lowered. “But also I guess because… I dunno, you guys care so fucking much. I figured she’d call you…” He coughed. “It’s… I’ve known you both for five years, and you’re… the closest thing I’ve had to real adults who give a shit about me, I guess. I don’t really… uh, trust anyone else.” He swallowed hard.

David had his arm around Max’s hunched shoulders. “I’m glad you trust us, Max,” he said gently. Gwen had never seen him be so calm and so serious for this long, especially without making a fool of himself. “We’re not going to let anything happen to you.”

“I don’t want to be taken away,” Max said, his voice very small now. Gwen bit her lip.

“Listen, Max,” David told him. “I have a plan. I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure you’re safe and where you want to be. If that’s with us, then I’ll make it happen.”

The boy nodded.

Max couldn’t be persuaded to go to bed, and Gwen recognized the look of someone terrified that everything would be worse when he woke up. But he fell asleep on the end of her couch within half an hour. “We can just… we can put him in my bed,” she said quietly as David scooped the kid up. He nodded and followed her into her room, tucking the exhausted boy in gently before shutting her door.

Finally, she felt safe to fall apart a bit, to tell David how worried she was. “I have no idea what to do,” she blurted, her voice already shaking. “I mean, we always talked about how there might be something up with his parents, but I’ve– I’ve never seen him like this before. It’s so unnerving. God, David, I barely know how to take care of myself, how am I supposed to deal with this?”

David put his hands on her shoulders. “You’re not alone, Gwen, I came here to help you,” he reminded her. “I meant it when I told him I had a plan.”

Letting him lead her back into the living room, Gwen asked, “What are we going to do?”

He leaned down to his backpack and pulled out his laptop. “I’ve got a general plan, but I need to do some research. Is it okay if I use your wifi? I would have done it on the bus, but my data plan isn’t very good.”

“I… yeah, sure.” She watched him sit down next to her and log into the computer on his lap, and when he turned it towards her, she connected him to her wifi. “What are you researching?”

“I know the basics of the laws around this kind of situation,” he told her, “but I want to brush up on whatever details I can find. We have to persuade Max to talk to the police, so that we can have the AMBER alert cancelled and begin filing a report against his parents. Obviously Child Protective Services will get involved, and normally Max would then be placed in federal custody – probably a group home or something – because he doesn’t have any other family in the country. I want to be prepared and approach them with a case for you and I to take him instead, at _very_ least in the short term.”

David was looking at his screen, three tabs already open in his browser, and she watched him for a minute, thinking. She had been about to open her mouth and challenge his assumption that she _wanted_ to take custody of Max with him, but then she realized that she absolutely did. The idea of leaving the boy with strangers felt awful. She felt so protective of him, suddenly. She knew what shitty parents felt like – not _this_ shitty, but still – and she wanted badly to look after him.

She began to crumple under the pressure of the situation again. How could she possibly be equipped to deal with this? Folding in on herself, she mumbled, “You seem a lot more knowledgeable on this than I am.”

“What?” he asked, glancing over at her in concern.

“I just…” She wrapped her arms around her stomach, nauseous yet again. “I don’t know if there’s anything I can contribute, here.”

He put his laptop aside and scooted closer, putting an arm around her shoulders and his other hand on her knee. “Gwen, were you listening earlier? Max said he trusts us _both_ , not just me.” He squeezed her lightly. “He needs both of us right now.”

“It took _all_ my self-control not to fall apart today,” she whispered. “What could he need from me when clearly you know what to do and I can barely keep my shit together?”

David drew even closer, resting his cheek against her upper arm. “Now, that’s just not fair,” he chastised gently. “You know it takes both of us to run Camp Campbell. I happen to know something about the legal side of this situation, but you know how bad I am at paperwork, right? Or how impulsive I am? How absent-minded? With something like this I need your smarts and level-headedness to balance me. We’re a good team, even Max knows that. He came to _you_.”

Gwen considered pointing out that Max knew how to _find_ her, but instead she said, “You’re the one managing to stay level-headed right now.”

“Sure, for the moment,” he agreed. “I tend to do my panicking after the fact.”

She nodded absently, trying to pull herself back together. After a moment, she heard David’s stomach growl. “Are you hungry? There’s leftover pizza,” she said softly.

“That sounds great,” he admitted. “I haven’t eaten in… a while.”

She nodded again and hauled herself off the couch and out of David’s comforting arms to fetch the pizza she’d shoved unceremoniously into the fridge earlier that evening. “You want it heated up?”

“Cold is fine,” he called back.

She sat down next to him on the couch again, tight against his side, and as he went back to his research, she grabbed a notepad and a pen from the side table. She couldn’t help with his research, she didn’t know anything about it, but she felt like she had to do something. So she started making notes about Max’s behaviour over the last five summers, about the little things he did or said every so often that had made her and David wonder what was going on at home. None of it was significant enough to justify actually reporting, but given the current situation, it served as at least a partial record of Max’s history.

David was at the most intense and serious she’d ever seen him.

Max was fast asleep, safe in her bed.

Everything was going to be fine, she told herself firmly.

 

Gwen woke up slowly on the couch, no recollection of having fallen asleep to begin with. Gradually, she became aware of a pillow under her head and a knitted blanket – not hers – spread across her, tucked in under her side. She could smell coffee, and heard the toaster pop. On the coffee table in front of her, David’s laptop was open, plugged in, with his screensaver of camp photos shuffling onscreen; next to it was a notebook, filled with notes in his distinctive scrawl.

As she blinked herself awake, David himself appeared, smiling at her as he set a cup of coffee down on the corner of the table nearest her. “Hey,” he said quietly, sipping from his own mug. “Sleep okay? I’m making breakfast, I hope you don’t mind.”

She nodded drowsily as she pushed herself up. “Did you… were you up all night?” she asked, rubbing her eyes.

He looked away guiltily. “I slept a lot on the bus yesterday,” he defended himself quickly. “I dozed in your armchair over there a couple times, but otherwise, yeah, I’ve been up all night.” There were slight bags under his eyes.

“David,” she said, her tone a warning. “That’s not good for you. If we’re dealing with this situation today, I really need you to be all there.”

“I’ll be fine, I promise,” he told her, heading back into her kitchen. “You have time for a shower before the food is ready, if you want.”

Gwen downed her coffee, checked her phone and was relieved to see a message from her boss assuring her that she could have the next few days off for what she had decided to call a ‘family emergency,’ and then took the shower David had suggested. She was sitting at the kitchen table with a towel on her head, taking in the smell of some very promising omelets, while David went to gently wake Max. Max seemed disoriented and stressed when he came into the kitchen, and Gwen found herself missing the normal Max in a way she didn’t know she could.

There was barely room for the three of them at the tiny table that fit so awkwardly in her tiny kitchen, but they made it work somehow. David’s cooking was excellent – he somehow included spices that Gwen hadn’t even realized she _had_ in her kitchen – and if not for the amount of tension in the room, it could almost have been a pleasant experience, albeit a strange one.

David waited until everyone was done eating to share his plan with Max.

 

“Nope. Fuck this. I can’t do it. I won’t go in there,” Max was saying for the hundredth time in about an hour. Gwen and David both had their hands on his shoulders already, apparently _too_ accustomed to his standard escape tactics. The three of them stood outside the police station nearest Gwen’s apartment.

David knelt down on one knee to be eye-to-eye with the panicking boy. “Listen, Max, we can’t get anywhere if you’re still listed as a missing child,” he pointed out. “It’ll be far easier on _all three_ of us if we walk in there ourselves than if you’re _found_ in our care by the police. We talked about this – I have a plan. I know what I’m doing. It’s gonna be okay.”

Max was staring at him, wide-eyed. “Cops _hate_ brown kids,” he said quietly. “What if they don’t believe me? What if they send me back? Fuck, David, what if–”

“Everything is going to be _fine_ ,” David said again, slowly. He raised his eyebrows, squeezing Max’s shoulders tightly. “But we _have_ to do this.”

Gwen stared down at them, biting her lip as she waited for Max’s response.

“…Okay,” Max said finally. He nodded, and David stood, taking Max’s hand. Max didn’t object; to Gwen’s surprise, she felt his sweaty fingers grasping at her own hand as well. He was terrified – she’d never seen anything like it.

Together, they walked into the precinct and approached the officer at the desk. “Excuse me,” David said politely.

The woman looked up from the paper she was writing on. “How can I help you?”


	2. Be Okay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max, Gwen, and David have to contend with the police and Child Protective Services in an effort not to be separated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to mention in the ch 1 notes but this is supposed to take place just over a year after the summer of the show - like, after the summer following the one in which the show is set. That is why Max is stated to be eleven and Gwen twenty-five (with me personally going on the assumption that she is roughly the same age as David).
> 
> Also, shoutout to the amazing Forestwater for the surnames I gave to David and Gwen here. I just... really liked the ones she uses. If you haven't been reading her work, please go do that, because everything she does is amazing and deserves praise.
> 
> Lastly, this chapter's a little on the short side (especially compared to ch 1, which is a little on the long side) but I think it's the length it needs to be. I've edited it a couple times so I'm not gonna now because I am Very Very Tired, but... I'll probably reread it tomorrow just to check, lmao.
> 
> As always: enjoy, and please let me know what you thought. It keeps me going <3

Gwen and David had both given detailed statements to the police regarding their histories with Max and what had occurred in the day and a half since he showed up at Gwen’s apartment. Max had been closed in an office with the blinds drawn for a few hours, accompanied by two officers and the representative from Child Protective Services. Gwen and David, from their spot in the waiting room around the corner, heard a couple of the boy’s loud outbursts early on, but he’d been quieter for a long time now, and it was starting to unnerve Gwen.

“He’s _never_ quiet for this long,” she fretted to David. “ _Especially_ around authority figures. What’s going _on_ in there? Is he _okay?_ ”

“I’m sure he’s fine, Gwen,” he answered soothingly, prying the shredded remains of a Styrofoam cup from her hand and giving her a new one, filled at the cooler in the corner. “He’s not being arrested. Their job is to protect him.”

“Says the white man,” she grumbled. “God, he was right earlier, what he said about cops hating brown kids. I shouldn’t have let them take him in there alone. You know how many times I’ve been stopped in this city? Especially while I was dating Kevin, he was this huge black guy, we used to get–”

“Gwen,” David said again, grimacing. “I’m sorry. I… I recognize what you’re saying. But really, I’m certain Max is completely safe.”

She groaned, downed her water, and began to gnaw on the edge of the cup.

David sat next to her, one hand resting against her vibrating knee in an attempt to help her stay calm, until the CPS rep rounded the corner and approached them. A tall Chinese woman in a business suit and a bobbed haircut, she was sharp and intimidating, at least as far as Gwen was concerned.

“You’re the couple who brought Max in?” she asked them.

“Yes,” David said, looking up. “Uh, I mean, no.” She lifted an eyebrow, and he smiled sheepishly. “That is, uh, we’re not a couple, we’re just friends, but we brought Max in, yeah.” He got to his feet and offered her his hand. “David Greenwood, hi.”

“Faye Zhang,” she introduced herself curtly. Gwen watched, paralysed by her own anxiety – something in the back of her head told her she should be getting up and greeting the woman too, but her body wasn’t responding. She just looked on while David took complete charge. The woman looked like she was going to say something else, but David cut her off.

“Now, Ms. Zhang,” he said quickly. “I respect that you have a job to do, but I feel it’s my responsibility to Max to make a few things clear to you right off the bat. The first is that I fully intend to fight for Gwen and I to take custody of Max rather than allow him to be put in the care of strangers. The second is that I’m a dual citizen, and a fully certified child and youth worker in Canada. I have my documentation with me if you need to see it. So I do have some idea what I’m doing here, though if you’d be kind enough to walk me through the legal aspect slowly, that would be much appreciated, given that I’m more familiar with Canadian law than American when it comes to these circumstances.”

He was talking fast, which of course he always did, but Gwen wondered how much of it was habit and how much of it was intentional just this moment. He might be hoping to give the woman little chance to argue with him. Then she registered everything he’d said: he was a youth worker? How did she not know that? It made perfect sense, really, but – well, he rarely mentioned school at all except in passing, and she’d never asked. Still, after so many years working together she wondered how it hadn’t come up somehow. How much did she not know about his life?

Ms. Zhang was pursing her lips. “Well, of course, there are a lot of factors to consider and a lot of rules to follow,” she explained. “I can’t just send him home with you.”

“No, of course not,” David agreed, smiling like she was the most reasonable person in the world. “But I do have a case to make to you. Gwen and I have been Max’s camp counsellors for five consecutive summers, two months each year. Max has no family stateside beyond his parents, but he knows and trusts us – enough that it was Gwen he came to when he left home. We know his medical history, his habits, his likes and dislikes… Max is a bit of a vulnerable kid, Ms. Zhang, and unstable at times, but we’ve become quite accustomed to that and know exactly how to deal with him. We’ve also compiled a record of everything we can remember him saying or doing in the last five years that may be useful in the case against his parents–”

“Mr. Greenwood, please,” Ms. Zhang interrupted, raising a hand. “Clearly we have a great deal to talk about, so why don’t we find another room? This isn’t really a waiting room discussion…”

“Absolutely,” he agreed, nodding. “I think you’ll find I have a very compelling case…” As she led him away, he glanced over his shoulder to give Gwen a comforting smile and a thumbs up. She tried her best to return it. Really, if anyone in the world could persuade a tight-laced social worker that the two of them should get to keep Max, it was probably David.

Legs bouncing nervously, Gwen sat alone in the waiting room, hating every quiet second. She jumped when a police officer came in and asked, “Miss Santos?”

Sweeping up the pieces of her second shredded cup with one shoe, which were now scattered across the floor, Gwen looked up with an embarrassed smile and said, “Yes, hi, that’s me.”

“Where’s Mr. Greenwood?” God, that sounded weirder and weirder the more these people said it. David wasn’t a Mr. anything.

“He’s with Ms. Zhang,” she answered.

“Arright. Well, the kid’s been asking to see the two of you,” the officer told her. “You wanna come in and talk to him? I don’t think we’re getting any more out of him, at least not today. Some familiar company’s probably a good idea at this point.”

“Um, sure,” Gwen said with a nod, opting not to mention aloud how alien the idea was that Max _wanted_ to see her. She followed the officer into the hall and down to the room Max was in. He opened the door for her and she looked inside, seeing Max curled up in a chair in the far corner, looking as strung out and unhappy as she felt. She thanked the officer and stepped inside, the door swinging shut behind her.

For a moment she wondered what to say, then decided just to go and sit down next to him, staring at the blinds on the other side of the room. If she didn’t know better, she might have thought some of his tension began to dissipate when she sat down.

The world in which her presence was _comforting_ to a kid like Max was a fucked-up world she didn’t really want to live in.

They were both quiet for a minute or two, and then she said softly, “David is out there with that Zhang lady.” Max didn’t answer. She looked down, picking at the hem of her sweater. “He’s fighting tooth and nail for us to keep you, you know. I’ve never seen him stay this serious for this long without fucking anything up. I think he might explode, once this is all over.”

There was another long silence. Then Max said, in a very low voice, “He always tries so fucking hard.” Another pause. “Do you… think it’ll work?”

Gwen didn’t know the answer to that. She didn’t know anything about any of what was going on. “I think David would rather go down in flames than let someone else take you.”

“I’ve seen him go down in flames before.” She risked a glance at him; he was sitting with his arms wrapped around his legs and his chin on his knees, staring at his feet.

“Yeah, but he wasn’t trying this hard, then.” She chewed her tongue, thinking. “You gotta understand what I mean, Max, when I tell you I’ve never seen David this fucking passionate about _anything_.”

Max’s eyebrows rose; whether it was surprise or disbelief Gwen wasn’t sure.

“Everything’s gonna be okay, Max,” she sighed. “We’re gonna take care of you. It’s all gonna turn out all right.”

“Don’t bullshit me, Gwen,” he answered. His voice was hoarse. “I can tell.”

She bit her lip. “I dunno what’s gonna happen, then,” she admitted. “But I do know that David would fight a mountain to take care of you, and I know that I’d be right fucking behind him, patching him up every time he fell and then shoving his skinny ass back into the ring.”

Max seemed to accept that, and they went back to being quiet for a while. It was clear that he was still tired and scared and angry, and Gwen was still anxious to the point of significant nausea, but it seemed like it helped both of them, just a little, to be side-by-side.

There was no clock in the room that Gwen could find, and so she wasn’t sure how long she’d been sitting there when the door opened and David came in with Ms. Zhang. She pulled herself to her feet, hoping she could make a better impression this time, but then Max leapt up, standing on the chair like it made him braver to be tall.

“Listen, lady,” he said loudly, looking at Ms. Zhang. “I don’t know how this usually works, but I don’t give a shit. I’m not going away with you to live with total fucking strangers. I’ll run away from any guardian who isn’t David or Gwen, I swear. Ask them; I’m a stubborn asshole. I’m going to stay with them or–”

“They’ve already been cleared for the job,” Ms. Zhang told him drily, clearly unimpressed with his language. “At least for the short term, they’ll be your foster parents, provided they can meet certain conditions. We came in to let you know, and to have Miss Santos sign the contract.”

“Wait, what?” Max blinked, confused not to be opposed. Then he looked at David. “You did it? You must talk even faster than I thought. God. You slick motherfucker.”

David nodded, beaming. “We’re gonna take you home, Max,” he said happily. “Everything’s gonna be fine.”

David stayed with Max while Gwen left with Ms. Zhang to look over the contract. The terms seemed fairly reasonable – she and David both had to have a steady income and share a reliable housing situation, Max had to be enrolled in and attending school within a month, there would be regular appointments with the social worker, there always had to be someone home with him (either one of them or an approved sitter)… Frankly, she had expected worse. Deciding not to tell Ms. Zhang that she’d already left Max alone in the apartment once, she signed and asked for a copy to send to her lawyer, by which she really meant her friendliest uncle. He worked in immigration, but he was generally good enough to give her legal advice when she needed it, and that was better than nothing.

 

“So,” David said as they finally stepped back into Gwen’s apartment. “This is home, at least for now, Max. What do you think?”

“I think I have to take a leak,” Max told him. “After that, you can wake me when I’m eighteen.” He closed the bathroom door behind him, and David and Gwen shared a look of mild concern.

“Here,” Gwen said, reaching for the coat hooks on the wall to her right. “Before I forget, David, you might as well have this.” She handed him the apartment key that had been Cait’s before she had to leave.

“Mm, good idea.” He fished a carabiner out of his pocket – because of _course_ he kept his keys on a carabiner – and attached it.

“I changed my mind,” Max said, coming out of the washroom again. “Feed me. _Then_ wake me when I’m eighteen.”

“Right,” Gwen said. “Uh… shit. You wanna order in again? I don’t have a lot of… dinner foods around…” It wasn’t that she didn’t like good food, it was more that she just wasn’t much of a cook. It was equal parts boring and time-consuming a job, and she tended to go the easy route, especially when it came to dinner.

“Oh, don’t worry about that, Gwen,” David said quickly. “I had a look around this morning, I can throw something together nice and quick. Not a problem.”

“Oh. Uh… Okay,” she answered slowly. “Um, lemme know if you need a hand, I guess.”

“I think I’ll be fine, but thank you!” he said, kicking off his shoes and bouncing into her little kitchen.

Max rolled his eyes and crossed the room to the couch, pulling his iPod out of his backpack. For lack of anything better to do, Gwen followed him into the living room and turned left to her reading nook, picking up the book she’d been working on.

God, how different her life had been when she had started it.

“Nikki wants to come visit,” Max told them as he slid into a seat at Gwen’s little table twenty minutes later. “She thinks this whole situation is hilarious. She says she wants to see how you two live when you’re not at camp, even though I told her you’re just as annoying as ever.”

“I think it would be _lovely_ if Nikki came to visit,” David said cheerfully, serving up a pasta dish full of ingredients Gwen didn’t recall owning. Remembering that morning’s omelets, she wondered if he’d slipped out to go shopping overnight. “But maybe once we’ve settled in a little bit. Put some furniture in the second bedroom.”

“Right. About that,” Max pointed out, eyes narrowed. “Where are we all gonna sleep?”

“The couch is a pull-out bed,” Gwen told him. “You two can share until we figure something else out, I guess.”

Max pulled a face. “Seriously? You want me to share with _David?_ ” he squawked. “Why don’t _you_ share with David?”

“Because that would be _inappropriate_ , Max,” David answered quickly, before Gwen even had time to be properly offended.

“Sure. Whatever.” He rolled his eyes. “It better not be for long.”

 

After dinner Max had spent a while longer messaging Nikki and Neil, then passed out on the pull-out bed soon after Gwen had set it up. For all that he was playing it cool now, he was clearly still rattled from the day they’d had, and it had wiped him out.

David and Gwen sat in the kitchen, drinking tea again like they had the night before. David was finally showing real signs of fatigue, but he didn’t seem ready to sleep.

“God,” Gwen said quietly. “We’re really doing this. How the fuck are we going to _do_ this, David?”

“Well, I’ve been giving it some thought,” he told her, warming his hands on his mug. “You were looking for a roommate, right? So, that’s taken care of. I’ll just move in.”

“I…” Of course it made perfect sense, but she hadn’t thought of it that way yet. “But you have your own place, your job, a life…”

He shrugged. “This is more important. And anyway, I was coming up on the end of my lease, so that’s not a big deal. The job’s not a big deal either; it was just a short-term gig with a friend of my mom’s. Seasonal. She’ll understand.” His smile was as warm as ever. “I’ll find something here, of course, and help you cover the bills and everything. And then… well, I was thinking, I could send my mom some of my saved money to hire some movers and pack up my place. Anything that’s not important can go to her place, or in storage, and my furniture can come down here. Maybe my car, too. We can furnish the second bedroom and let Max have that, and I can stay on the couch. We could maybe fit another small bed into the other room if you really don’t want to do that, or I _guess_ we could look for a three-bedroom somewhere although of course that’ll cost more… I don’t know. That’s long term.”

Gwen blinked, taking that in. “I’m… I mean, yeah, that makes _sense_ ,” she said, taking a deep breath and then letting it out hard. “It’s just… I don’t know. This is all so damn weird, David.”

“I know.” He reached over and patted her hand. “But I’m trying really hard to think practically, here. Speaking of, we need a more solid short-term plan, I think.”

“Right.” She nodded. “Well, um, when I spoke to my boss I told her I needed a few days for a family emergency, so I’m off through… Monday, I think. And she’s pretty cool, so, uh, I guess if I explain the situation to her she can probably be at least a bit flexible with the situation, while we juggle being home with Max and you finding a job and stuff.”

“Okay, that sounds promising,” David said with a nod. “Do you know where the nearest school is? We’ll have to look into getting Max enrolled. Not immediately, of course, but soon.”

“Uh…” Gwen considered her mental map of the area and realized she had no idea. “Fuck. I don’t know. Oh my god, David, I’m already so fucking bad at this.”

“Hey, hey!” he said, reaching for her again and patting her arm gently. “No one is good at being a parent right away! It takes a while to learn, even when you’re _expecting_ it. For someone who just had this sprung on her, I think you’re doing exactly as expected.”

“You talk like you _are_ a parent,” she grumbled at him, and when she glanced up he only offered an awkward grin. She sat up straight, staring at him. “No _way_ ,” she said slowly. It was one thing not to know about his education, but this…

“What? Oh!” He burst out laughing. “No, no, I’m sorry,” he giggled. “I can’t believe for a second you really thought… no, I’m just a godparent. And honorary uncle to a couple more.”

She breathed a deep sigh of relief. “Good god, David,” she muttered. “You scared the shit out of me for a second.” Resting her chin on her hand and her elbow on the table, she asked, “You know people with kids?”

“A few,” he admitted. “I know a few couples at home who’ve been together since high school. Some of them married. It happens. And I’m pretty good with kids, so I make a good go-to babysitter.”

“Not if you’re in NYC, you don’t,” she pointed out.

David tipped his head to one side, nodding. “That’s true. But I think I’m upgrading from babysitter, here.”

“Yeah.” She looked down. “Yeah, fuck. Wow. Fostering the world’s angriest eleven-year-old isn’t how I pictured my life at twenty-five. Christ.”

“Don’t worry,” he told her again. “We’re in this together. Everything is going to be okay.”

Gwen took another deep breath and hoped like hell that he was right.


	3. The Long Term

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David and Max begin to settle in at Gwen's place, and David's mom arrives with the contents of David's apartment and a familiar determination to win Max over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I don't think I have too much to say before this one... I guess this is the chapter where you start to see me experimenting more with perspective. The first couple chapters didn't have much space for it but I really enjoyed writing more from Max's POV in this one! Hope you enjoy it too.
> 
> Don't forget to check the tag 'cc Run Away Home' on tumblr for some extra goodies!
> 
> And please leave a comment if you can, I absolutely love them <3

Gwen emerged from her bedroom the next morning in one of her shorter nighties, freezing halfway out the door when she remembered there were people in her living room. She glanced at the pull-out bed, saw that they were both still asleep, and ducked back into her room for her housecoat, luckily close at hand. That would be something to get used to. She had only ever had female roommates, and had never shied from wandering around in her skivvies when she was home.

She was digging in the cupboard for a clean bowl when she heard the springs in the living room mattress squeak as someone sat up. Immediately there was movement, and she knew it had to be David. He could go from asleep to wide awake faster than anyone she’d ever met. It was mystifying. She heard him go past the kitchen to the bathroom, and a few minutes later he joined her, fully dressed. “Good morning!” he greeted cheerfully. “How are you?”

“Still tired, David,” she told him as she poured her cereal. “Turn it down a notch.”

“Right, sorry.” He leaned against the doorframe while she prepared her breakfast, waiting until she was seated to come further into the room. “I don’t know if you’ve had a chance to check your email yet, but Ms. Zhang sent us the information for those classes we have to take.” As it turned out, Ms. Zhang was bending the rules to let Max stay with them right now – there was a whole course they had to take in order to become certified as foster parents, and one of the conditions on their contract had been taking the classes as soon as possible. “They don’t start for a couple weeks, so we have a little time to get ourselves together before then.”

“Sounds good,” she said, rubbing her forehead. She’d been awake a half hour and things already felt overwhelming. “What’s, uh… what’s our plan for today?”

“Good question,” David answered, sitting down next to her. He had spread peanut butter across a couple of pieces of toast, and was slicing up a banana to add on top. “Well, I have to call my mom and let her know what’s going on… I should call my manager, too, and email my super. I’ll need to start looking at job listings, as well. And obviously we’ll have to look into things like school, but that’s not quite as urgent.”

Max came drowsily into the room and started pouring himself some cereal as well as Gwen put her head in her hands. “God, I… I guess I should probably call _my_ parents, too. Jesus.”

“That bad, huh?” Max asked as he plunked down in the third chair. With all three of them seated the rest of the kitchen became almost unusable, it was so small.

“They’re just… a lot,” Gwen answered carefully. She never knew how to explain her parents to people, or the relationship she had with them.

“Do me a favour and spare me an introduction,” the boy told her drily, not looking up.

“Don’t worry, I don’t think they’ll be chomping at the bit to swing by,” she assured him.

“You might get to meet my mother, though!” David said cheerfully, and Gwen wasn’t sure if he was oblivious to her anxiety or trying to change the subject. Knowing him, it could be either at this point. “I’ll have to ask her for help moving my things down here, and I’ve told her so much about the both of you that I’m sure she’d love to take a chance to come down and say hello, if she can get away from work.”

“Great,” Max muttered, rolling his eyes. “Just what I need. Another David.”

“Oh, we’re not _that_ much alike,” David told him with a wave of the hand, deaf to the boy’s sarcasm. “I mean, she raised me, so there are similarities of course, but…”

“Gwen,” Max interrupted. “It’s too early to hear about David’s mom. Can I get a coffee?”

“You know that’s why you’re so short, right?” she pointed out, but she was getting to her feet. “This stuff stunts your growth.” Her back turned, she missed the dirty look he threw her. She opened the cupboard next to the fridge and pointed. “It’s up here, so you know.”

Max’s frown deepened. “I can’t reach that,” he admitted through gritted teeth.

Gwen started to laugh.

 

David and Gwen spent the day on chores and administrative tasks while Max sat in the corner of the couch-bed, alternately playing with his DS, watching Netflix, and messaging Neil and Nikki. David called his mother fairly promptly – the job Gwen was putting off as long as she could – and it was a strange conversation to listen to for the other two, even one-sided: so cheerful, so positive. “Love you more!” he said before hanging up, and Gwen and Max shared a puzzled glance and a shrug. After that he pulled out his laptop to start on emails, school research, and his job hunt.

Gwen took some time to pick up her room, vaguely embarrassed about the piles on the floor now that she had David and Max living with her, and then spent a while properly taking stock of what she had in her kitchen so they could work on a real grocery list. What she had grabbed while shopping the other day had been almost entirely on impulse, and a good grocery run would soon be in order. While she was in the shopping list zone, she realized, she might as well start brainstorming things they were going to need to get for the apartment, whether out of David’s stuff or from a store. More dishes, for instance; what she had was fairly paltry and they’d go through them fast. More bathroom towels…

She was procrastinating, and she knew it, but that was fine.

It was mid-afternoon by the time she ran out of things to do and finally forced herself to call her parents. It was exactly as awkward and uncomfortable as she’d expected, complete with their underhanded insinuations that she couldn’t possibly be the right person to look after an unstable child, passive-aggressively folded into their reminders of what a good person she was and how much they loved her. Talking to them always gave her emotional whiplash, but in the end she made it through in one piece, only slightly worse for wear.

“Are you… okay?” David asked, glancing up in concern as she emerged from her room.

“I’ll live,” she answered. “But I’d love if someone gave me something to do, to get the taste of that conversation out of my mouth.”

“Well…” David glanced down at the makeshift work area he’d set up on the coffee table, thinking. “I glanced over your shopping list. Marked off what we can get from my place, and then added a few things. You want to go shopping?”

“We’d have to take him with us,” she pointed out, gesturing to the lump of disinterested child that was Max. He looked up.

“You want me to leave?” he whined. “Shopping is boring.” He played it off as his usual apathy and disdain, but the fidgeting of one leg and a flicker of uncertainty on his face gave away the underlying nervousness.

“Come on, Max,” David prodded. “You need things too. You have almost no clothes.” Max groaned loudly, so David changed his tack slightly. “If you come, you get input on anything we buy for you. Otherwise, your wardrobe will be up to me. Plus, you’ll have some pull with groceries… and I was thinking of treating you both to dinner afterwards. If you’re really good I’ll let you pick the restaurant.”

Gwen thought that sounded like more bribery than necessary, but then, that was how her child-care style and David’s had always differed. Either way, it worked: Max pulled himself up off the mattress with a heavy sigh and just a trace of a smile. “Fine, fine.”

 

Shopping with David and Gwen was one of the strangest experiences of Max’s life, even with some very weird experiences under his belt. But, loathe as he was to admit it, it was far from the worst. Their first stop was a department store, mostly to buy him clothes, and he was surprised by how much freedom he was allowed. They were working within the budget of David’s savings until the foster care funding came through, but he avoided the expensive stuff habitually anyway. Beyond that he had his pick, with no one criticizing any of his choices, and he enjoyed the freedom. They even had him pick out a coat, since it was late September and starting to get cold some days, and no one stopped him from choosing the one with stupid patterns all over it. He didn’t even like it that much better than any of the others – he just got a kick out of owning something ridiculous and not being stopped.

They let him buy his favourite cereal, too, some absurd sugary stuff full of artificial colours that his mother would never have abided and his father would have called too expensive. He got to choose the juice he liked best, and the chicken fingers he never got to eat at home. Possibly the strangest part of all was conspiring with Gwen about how to smuggle into their purchase a video game they both wanted that would almost definitely be too violent for David’s taste – but somehow they pulled it off, and when she offered him a low high-five on the way out of the store, he returned it without thinking.

They dropped their purchases back at Gwen’s apartment, put away the groceries, and then turned around and left again, David announcing cheerfully that Max had been cooperative enough to earn the privilege of dinner choice. The boy conferred with Gwen for a minute about what was in the area and then turned around with a wicked grin, having made his decision.

Forty-five minutes later, they were seated in a booth at a tiny family-owned Indian restaurant, and Max cackled wildly as tears began to stream down David’s face. “I-it’s… delicious,” David managed, downing half his glass of water and forcing a smile. Max had been quick to recommend him some of his ‘favourites’ on the menu, and David had gone ahead and ordered them without paying any attention to the heat warnings.

Max turned and glanced to his right as he heard Gwen snort; he watched in mild disappointment as she ate without difficulty. Catching his expression before he covered it up, she smirked. “I’m Latina, pal,” she reminded him. “I used to eat jalapenos right off the plant on my parents’ kitchen counter.”

“But that weak-ass hot sauce in your fridge!” he protested.

“Was my ex-roommate’s,” she explained easily. “Hadn’t gotten around to picking up anything stronger.”

Max considered that for a moment, then shrugged. “Whatever. This is what I really wanted to see,” he said, gesturing back at the now-sobbing David, who was still trying hard to smile. Gwen hid a tiny laugh behind her napkin.

“I was a little surprised you _wanted_ to come here,” She admitted quietly, watching Max eagerly chowing down on a fish curry a few minutes later.

He glanced at her sideways, just briefly, then swallowed. “My parents don’t cook a lot,” he answered slowly. “The food makes me think more of my Nani, who’s great, even though I’ve only met her a few times.” He took another bite, not meeting her eye. “Anyway, this is a Tamil place. My parents are Uttar Pradeshi. Opposite ends of the country. Different dishes.”

“Oh, okay.” She nodded. “Well, if you like this place, we can come again. The prices are good, and I like the owners.”

“Cool.” He glanced up at David again, grinning. “Might take you up on that.”

Gwen laughed again, following his line of sight. David looked back at her, his smile enormous, his face wet and red, and his eyes shining with yet more tears.

 

David insisted on going for ice cream after dinner as well – nothing to do with the heat still in his mouth, he _promised_ – and by the time they finally got home and put away all of their new purchases, it was getting late. David returned to his job hunt while Max poked around on Netflix, and Gwen sat down in her comfy chair with her book, though she was soon tempted by the sound of explosions and cursing to cross the room and join Max for his movie.

After Max went to bed, David moved his laptop to the kitchen table, and Gwen followed him to make some tea. She sat down next to him while passing him a cup. “How goes it?” she asked.

“There are lots of promising opportunities,” David told her, ever the optimist. “I’ll have to take some time tomorrow to update my résumé and work on cover letters. Shouldn’t be too bad!”

Gwen had trouble believing that – job-hunting had always been nightmarish, in her experience – but she didn’t feel like shooting him down. “Good luck.”

“Thank you!” He sipped his tea and glanced around the little kitchen. “Listen, my mom wants me to send her a list of what I want packed to come down here, and I don’t want to step on your toes, but I thought I’d suggest we bring my kitchen table,” he said carefully. “This one is lovely, but it doesn’t really… fit very well. Mine is meant for a corner, with an L-shaped bench seat and a rectangular tabletop. I’d have to double-check the measurements, but it should fit.”

“Really? Fuck yeah,” she agreed, raising her eyebrows. “I have no real attachment to this one. Hell, if you have any furniture that’s better than mine, haul it on down. The only thing in this place I really love is my armchair.”

“Oh, okay. That’s great.” He pushed his laptop away slightly, resting his elbows on the table. “I’m trying to figure out the most efficient way to arrange the second bedroom. I still think it should be Max’s, but I’m going to need somewhere to put my stuff. Mostly just clothes, but still…”

“Ugh, yeah.” She rubbed her head. “This is gonna be… tricky, I guess.” She paused, taking a deep breath. “It keeps striking me how this might be, like… long-term. It happened so fast… it doesn’t feel real yet.”

“It’s going to be fine, Gwen,” David reassured her for the hundredth time. “You’re gonna be great at this.”

She huffed a laugh. “I’m glad one of us thinks so.”

“Hey, don’t be that way!” he complained. “You got him to open up at dinner; that was incredible!”

“You caught that, huh?” she asked, glancing up. “I sort of figured your senses had all been overcome by the food.”

“It was beautiful,” he told her, eyes shining, and she realized belatedly that he’d probably cried about it at dinner, too, but it had been undetectable amidst his other weeping. “I’ve never seen anything like it. I’ve spent five summers trying to get Max to talk to me, Gwen, and it hasn’t happened often.”

“Yeah, well.” She looked down. “Right now he probably just needs someone to be there to hear him when he’s willing to let things out.”

“Not just anyone, though,” he insisted. She didn’t answer, and they were both quiet for a minute. Then David reached over and patted her hand before taking her empty mug and standing to go to the sink. “You look worn out, Gwen. You should get some rest.”

 

The next few days were a weird blur of activity and bizarre lulls. The weekend was quiet, with not much left to do aside from David’s job search. Gwen normally liked quiet days with few responsibilities, but they were infinitely stranger with her apartment occupied by her dorky coworker and a moody preteen swinging back and forth between apathy and extreme anxiety. On Monday morning David had an appointment at the local middle school to begin Max’s enrollment, and on Monday afternoon Gwen was back to work. She spent a half hour in her manager’s office, properly explaining what had occurred over the last few days, and then she returned to restocking the bookstore shelves and answering teenage girls’ questions about which werewolf series was better. The banal normalcy of her job felt alien in itself after the preceding week.

By Wednesday afternoon, David’s mother arrived with a small moving truck, a mover named Ken, and David’s car. “Hot damn, that was fast,” Gwen muttered as David and the mover wrangled his bed up the stairs and through her front door.

“I’m nothing if not efficient, sweetheart,” his mother answered, smiling brightly.

Despite David’s insistence that he and his mother weren’t that much alike, the resemblance was strong. She was considerably shorter than her son, but she had the same eyes, the same smile, and the same fluffy red hair, though much longer and shot through with appealing silver strands. She was peppy and enthusiastic, too, but gave the impression of being a little more mature and a little less clumsy than David was. She had shaken Gwen’s hand and introduced herself before hugging her, which was more than David had done on their first meeting.

“So where’s the little guy?” the woman asked, clasping her hands. “David’s told me so much about him over the years.”

“He’s hiding out on the balcony,” Gwen told her. “C’mon, this way.” They had to circumnavigate the couch-bed to reach the door, and Gwen stayed inside with the sliding door cracked open just slightly so she could listen to the interaction. She had considered warning the woman of Max’s attitude, but she probably already knew. And she worked with kids; she knew how to get along with them.

 

Max was huddled in Gwen’s single outdoor chair, wearing the stupid new coat that he kind of loved, when the woman who was unmistakably David’s mother came out of the apartment and approached him. She stopped a couple feet short and leaned on the railing, throwing him a familiar smile.

“Hi,” she said cheerfully. “You must be Max. I’m Maureen.”

“…Hi,” he answered slowly. He really didn’t know what to make of her yet.

“I’m sure things must be weird for you right now,” she said, looking out into the city. “But I’ve heard all about you, you know, and it’s lovely to meet you. David likes you a whole lot.”

“Never figured out why,” Max mumbled, glancing down.

Maureen laughed. “David likes most people.” Max didn’t answer, so she carried on, talking easily despite his awkwardness. “You know, I heard you might be staying awhile. So I thought I’d let you know, if you’re in want of a grandmother figure, I’m up for the job. We might not see each other very often, given the distance, but I’m happy to do the duty of spoiling you, and being your friend when David and Gwen have to be fuddy-duddy old parents.”

Max looked up at her again, eyebrows knitted in confusion and mild suspicion, and she laughed, watching him out of the corner of her eye. “Here.” She reached into her pocket and handed him a twenty-dollar bill, winking conspiratorially. “Don’t tell David.”

He took the bill, now utterly baffled. “Seriously?” he asked, staring at the money. “What… what’s this for? Is it a _bribe_ of some kind?”

“It’s for being my maybe-foster-grandkid,” she told him simply, glancing at him sideways.

“Are you for real?” he asked, looking up again. “I mean… I’m the reason your son is suddenly moving away…” _And I’m an asshole_ , was the end of that thought, but he kept it to himself. Curse and snark reduction was automatic for him around anyone over the age of thirty or so, especially if they were strangers.

“You kidding?” she teased. “I’ve looked forward to being a grandparent for _years_. You get all the fun of hanging out with kids and giving them everything they want, without any of the boring stuff like actually raising them. It’s great!” She laughed. “And while little kids are lots of fun, you’re old enough to be interesting to talk to, and that’s pretty good too.”

“…Huh.” He tucked the bill into his pocket, considering that. Even having known David for years, Max wasn’t used to people being so kind and open just for the sake of it, and he didn’t know how to react to that. So he defaulted back to sarcasm, even if he wasn’t sure it was the best route. “You must be pretty desperate, to take in a runaway problem kid you’ve never met.”

Maureen laughed again. “David’s a sweetheart, but I wasn’t getting any biological grandkids out of him soon,” she said. “I’ll take what I can get.” She winked again, amused by Max’s surprise. “Listen, if you want to come in any time soon, I’d love your company. If Gwen will let me use her kitchen for a few minutes, I was going to bake some cookies while David and Ken haul up all that furniture and stuff.”

“Oh,” he said. “Yeah… maybe.”

“Okay,” she agreed. “I’ll be inside. Come join me anytime.”

 

By the time Max _did_ make his way back inside, tempted – though he wouldn’t admit it – by the promising smell of fresh baking, the mover was gone and the apartment had undergone a minor transformation. At some point the couch-bed had been pushed back into couch form, at least for the moment, and another armchair sat on the opposite wall, between Gwen’s in the reading nook and the television. Gwen’s wobbly thrifted coffee table had been replaced with a sturdier, slightly nicer one, and when Max looked across the apartment and down the hall, her kitchen table was being disassembled and taken outside. He let David usher him into the no-longer-empty second bedroom for a look: a twin-sized bed under the window, Max’s pillow and blanket atop the mattress; a tiny bedside table; a short dresser across from the foot of the bed and a tall wardrobe next to the nightstand; a desk against the wall shared with Gwen’s room.

“I know it’s crowded,” David said apologetically. “The room is mostly yours, but we’re going to have to share the desk sometimes, and I need to keep some of my stuff in here. The wardrobe is mine, and you can use the dresser.”

Finally Max followed the delicious smells into the kitchen, where Maureen was cooling cookies on baking racks across a rectangular table that fit far better into the room than Gwen’s old round one had. A bench seat nestled in the corner, and Gwen’s chairs were tucked in around the outside of the table. Maureen turned away from the oven and spotted him looking at the cookies. “Try one!” she told him with a wink. “Let me know what you think.”

He hesitated, unused to being allowed to snack before dinner, but she only smiled, so he grabbed one. It was delicious – sweet and gooey and completely perfect. He was grinning before he could stop himself, and if that wasn’t enough, David caught him as he slipped into the kitchen. Max sat down, sliding down the bench to get some space.

“My mom makes the best cookies, doesn’t she?” David said excitedly, bouncing on his heels. He tossed her a hopeful grin. “Maybe you’ll tell me your secret, now that I’ll be living far away for a while?”

“Good try!” she teased. “Not just yet. What incentive will you have to invite me to visit if you can bake my cookies?”

“Darn it,” David said with a sigh and a snap of his fingers. “Well, it was worth a try. Will you stay for supper?”

“Well, if it’s not a bother!” she agreed, glancing to the door.

Gwen stood in the doorframe, not daring enter the little kitchen with two Greenwoods dancing around in it. “No, I don’t mind,” she said with a smile. “We owe you one, Maureen.”

“Anytime, honey,” Maureen said, waving her hand dismissively. She dropped onto the bench seat of the new table, sliding up next to Max. “Tell me, young man, what’s your favourite dessert?”

“I, uh… I guess I like cake,” he said awkwardly.

“You don’t sound convinced,” she needled. “Come on, what’s _really_ your favourite?”

Max looked down at his lap, kicking his feet nervously in the air in front of him. “Well…” He bit his tongue, embarrassed, then said, “When my parents took me to India, my Nani made me Imarti. I haven’t had it since, but it was really good.”

“Do you know what’s in it?” she asked, smiling. “I’ve never heard of it.”

“Not exactly…” he told her. He looked to one side, remembering. “It’s like… a little flower made of batter and deep-fried, and then soaked in syrup, I think. It’s _sort of_ like a funnel cake? But a tiny one.” He made a circle with his hands.

“That sounds scrumptious,” Maureen said excitedly. “When’s your birthday, Max?”

“Uh, next month,” he answered, confused by her abrupt change of subject.

“All rightie! Then I’d better get cracking!” she said, clapping her hands against the table. “I’ll take my best shot at learning to make you Imarti by your birthday, all right? Maybe I could visit you all over the American Thanksgiving weekend?” She looked up at her son, who was nodding.

“’American’ Thanksgiving?” Max questioned, raising an eyebrow.

“I’ll miss you on our Thanksgiving, Mom, but yeah, that sounds great,” David was agreeing.

Max turned his confusion to Gwen, who laughed. “Canadian Thanksgiving is in October. In a couple weeks, right, David?”

“About two and a half,” he confirmed. “Speaking of, I have to get started on dinner, but there’s a few too many people in here…”

“I’ll help you, love,” Maureen offered, getting to her feet again. “If someone can find me something to put the cookies away in… and Gwen, maybe you and Max can work on getting him a little more settled into his room?”

“Sure,” Gwen agreed. She waved to Max, and he followed her across the hall into what was now his bedroom.

“Fuuuuuck,” Max said once he had shut the door behind him.

Gwen laughed. “That rough, huh? I could tell you were on your best behaviour. It was getting a little weird.”

“I’m just…” He ran a hand through his curls, wide-eyed. “She’s a nice lady. Really. Who the hell am I to say no to a woman who shows up and just fucking _hands me money?_ But that was… that was a lot of David, just now.”

“Yeah, I know.” Gwen sat down in the chair at the desk. “But there are worse folks to have more than one of.”

“Yeah? You sure?” Max asked, raising his eyebrows.

“Certain,” she told him with a nod. “I mean, imagine two Campbells.”

“Point made,” he muttered. He crossed the room and hopped up on the bed, testing the mattress. It seemed to meet with his approval. “So what are we doing in here, again?”

“Not sure, really,” she said. Glancing around, she eyed his backpack and small pile of other belongings, tossed in on the floor earlier while things were being moved. “Putting your clothes in the dresser, I guess?”

“I guess.” He got up again and dumped the bag’s contents on the ground, sorting them out into lazy piles. He shoved the clothes into the dresser drawers and dumped his electronics and chargers into the drawer in the bedside table. “This is… this is fucking weird, Gwen,” he said quietly as he threw his backpack on the floor at the foot of the bed.

“I know,” she said, looking away. “Believe me, I know.”

He jumped onto the bed again, pulling his throw blanket up around his shoulders. Gwen didn’t think he realized he was doing it. “I didn’t know what was gonna happen when I came here,” he said.

“What did you want to happen?”

“I dunno.” He shrugged. “I just… had to get the hell out of there.”

“Yeah, I know.” Gwen scratched her leg with the socked toe of the other foot. “Just to clear the air, you don’t have to tell me why. I don’t expect you to.”

He watched her for a second. “You have shitty folks too, huh?”

“Not as bad as yours, I suspect,” she told him, nodding. “But bad. They… tell me all the time how much they love me, how great I am… but they don’t really think I’m capable of much. It’s like they think I’m a failure, but they don’t want me to know. I’m not sure if they really think I’m so stupid I won’t catch on, or if they just want to look from the outside like they’re still trying.” She shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s condescending, at best.” Glancing over, she added, “I have some good extended family, though. My dad’s kind of a dick, but all his younger brothers are pretty cool.”

Max looked down at his feet again, not saying anything.

Gwen watched for a second, then glanced at the door, the sound of David and his mother singing together catching her attention. “You’re not used to people making an effort with you, are you?” she asked quietly. “It was one thing when it was just David, but now there are a few of us and you don’t really know how to react to that.”

He looked away and shrugged, getting surly now. Gwen sighed. She knew she wouldn’t always get responses from him. Changing the subject, she said, “We’ll have to go shopping again soon. You need school supplies, if nothing else. Let me know if there’s anything you want for the room. We’re gonna run out of spare cash soon, but… if you’re sticking around for a bit, I want you to at least feel like it’s yours a little.”

There was a pause, and then he said, “Yeah.”

Gwen was getting up out of the chair when there was a knock on the door. “Hey, you two,” came Maureen’s voice. “How do you like your garlic bread? With or without cheese?”

“With!” they both answered immediately, the weight of their conversation entirely forgotten.


	4. Old Friends, New Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gwen's friends are kind of wondering why she dropped off the face of the earth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! This chapter gave me some trouble and at this point I don't even feel like a good judge of it any more, but I sure hope you like it. It has a couple more super-subtle 'David is Canadian' references (high five if you can spot 'em). I can't wait to post the next two chapters though; I really love them both and I think you guys will too.
> 
> Don't forget to check the 'cc Run Away Home' tag on tumblr - I'm posting some fun bonus stuff later today!

Gwen hadn’t been up long when there was a knock on her door. It was Saturday, she didn’t have work, and everyone had slept in. Maureen had left the night before, and though she hadn’t been staying overnight in the apartment, Gwen was a little worn out from all the energy. She was still in her pyjamas – an oversized t-shirt and an old pair of soccer shorts – when she approached the door, wondering who the hell could be there. Her last unexpected morning guest had been a bit of a shock, so she was wary as she undid the locks and opened up.

“Hey, Gwen!” greeted a familiar voice. She rubbed her eyes quickly, her friend’s slightly-concerned smile coming into focus once the sleep was out of the way.

“Oh. Hey, Jill. What’s up?” Gwen ran a hand back through her hair, hoping it wasn’t too bad. Jill had seen her worse, definitely, but it was automatic.

“Nothing much, really,” the girl admitted. She was a short, bouncy blonde, a year older than Gwen, and undoubtedly the Mom Friend out of their group. “I was just in the neighbourhood running some errands, and I thought I’d drop by for a minute. You haven’t been online much lately, we’ve all kind of been wondering what’s up with you.”

“Oh,” Gwen said again, smiling guiltily. “Yeah, about that. Sorry. It’s just, uh…” She hadn’t told many people about Max yet. It was such a bizarre situation that she just didn’t know how to bring it up. ‘Hey guys, my coworker moved in and we’ve kind of adopted this preteen we know’? There was no easy explanation.

Her awkward silence was interrupted when David emerged from the bathroom just behind her and to the right, fresh out of the shower and dressed only in his pyjama pants. He looked up in surprise, smiling widely when he noticed Gwen was talking to someone.

“Oh!” Jill’s hand went to her mouth.

“Huh?” Gwen, still tired, glanced over her shoulder at David, then looked back. “Oh, uh, Jill, this is David – you know, my coworker from the summer camp? David, this is my friend Jill.”

“Hi, Jill, nice to meet you!” David greeted cheerfully, giving her a friendly wave over Gwen’s shoulder.

“Ohh,” Jill answered, understanding dawning on her face. She looked at Gwen again, breaking into a sly smile. Behind her hand – though not quietly enough to really make a difference – she started, “So, uh, you two finally…? I mean, the way you talked about him, I wondered sometimes, but…”

“What?” Gwen blinked, processing. Then, eyes wide, “Oh, wait, fuck, no–”

“Oh jeez,” Jill answered, smile fading somewhat. “Sorry, honey, I mean, I just assumed…” Embarrassed, she glanced down at the floor.

David, oblivious as ever, watched their exchange and then glanced down. “Oh! I’m so sorry, I’m not even dressed! Please excuse me, Jill, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable–” He turned and rushed into Max’s bedroom to put something on.

“Sorry, Gwen,” Jill said quickly. “I didn’t mean to just barge in here and disrupt your privacy like this. It’s all on the down-low, I guess? Workplace rules or something? Don’t worry, I won’t say a word.”

“Fucking what?” Gwen asked, thrown. “I mean, no, I don’t think our boss would actually give a shit… that’s totally not the point though, it’s not what you think–”

“A girl does what she has to do,” Jill said understandingly, nodding. “Romance need not be involved. I totally get you. My lips are sealed.”

“ _No_ ,” Gwen said again, rattled now. “No, no, it’s nothing like that, god, Jill, you really think I’d– with _David?_ I mean, really– I haven’t done that since _college_ – come on, you _know_ me,” she sputtered.

Before the conversation could get any more convoluted, Max leaned out of the kitchen, sipping coffee out of Gwen’s favourite mug. “Hey, Gwen,” he complained loudly. “We’re out of my cereal.”

She was already pinching the bridge of her nose. What a morning. “ _Your_ cereal?” she asked, more exasperated than angry. “God, not even two weeks in and look how fucking entitled…”

“Hey,” he countered, frowning. “You get government money and shit to look after me, right? So it’s not like _you’re_ paying for the cereal. America is buying me the stupid cereal.”

“Um…” Gwen looked up again. Now it was Jill who was wide-eyed, glancing from Max to Gwen in total confusion. “I… should I come back later?”

“No, it’s…” Gwen sighed and stepped back, pulling the door open further. “Come on in for a minute.”

“Gwen and David kidnapped me,” Max quipped easily. “I’m being held in this apartment against my will.”

Gwen went rigid, shoulders tensing. “Jesus, Max, you can’t _say_ that shit,” she squawked. “For real, we’re all walking on eggshells as it is! The wrong person overhears a joke like that and they’ll take you away, _fast!_ ”

“Oh.” He glanced down, scuffing his socked toes against the carpet. “Yeah, I guess. Sorry. Trying to ruin your life is just so automatic by now.”

Gwen had to ignore Jill’s baffled look for a moment, wracking her brain for the best way to deal with the weird mix of confusion and mild dismay on Max’s face. Stepping towards him awkwardly, she ruffled his hair, then leaned down and said quietly, “Listen, you’re doing a great job of making our lives hell _without_ putting us at risk of arrest. Just, if you wanna stay here, don’t make jokes about us being criminals, okay? _Especially_ ones where you’re the _fucking victim._ Come on, kid, you’re smarter than that.”

He glanced up and, catching her softened expression, her eyebrows knitted with concern, he nodded a little. Then, looking unsure what to say next, he licked his lips and told her, “Seriously though, there’s nothing to eat without my fucking cereal.”

Gwen straightened up with a sigh. “Ask David for help, dude. I’ve got a guest.” She turned back to Jill and smiled awkwardly. “Hang up your coat and come on into the living room,” she suggested. “I’ll just go get dressed. One sec.”

There was a lot that Gwen _couldn’t_ tell Jill about Max’s circumstances, for privacy and legal reasons, but she was able to give her a general outline of the situation. By the time she was done explaining, Jill was grinning. “Who would have guessed you’d be the first family gal out of the bunch of us, huh?” she teased, nudging her friend with one elbow.

“God,” Gwen muttered, rolling her eyes. “Please, don’t start.”

“Sorry, honey,” Jill giggled. “It’s just… so cute, in a perfectly twisted Gwen sort of way. Of course you couldn’t take the normal route to parenthood.”

David popped his head out of the kitchen, where he was helping Max prepare a suitable breakfast in the absence of cereal. “I’m making coffee – will you be staying long, Jill? You want some?”

“Oh, that would be lovely!” she answered with a smile. When he disappeared again, she leaned over to Gwen. “What a sweetheart he is!”

“Sure, I guess you could put it that way,” Gwen answered drily.

“How do you take it, Jill?” David called from the kitchen.

“One milk, two sugar!” she answered.

David came in a few moments later with three cups on a little serving tray brought from his place, because of course David owned a serving tray. Passing the mugs out with a smile, he said, “Café de olla for Gwen, one milk two sugar for Jill, double-double for me.” He sat down in the middle seat next to Gwen, who shifted the cinnamon stick in her drink aside to take a sip. She was trying to hide the smile she couldn’t suppress at having someone in her apartment who, once in a while, took the time to make her favourite coffee order and not just the easy one-sugar-one-cream. She was usually too lazy to make café de olla herself, unless she felt really indulgent, but David had learned about it a few years ago and would make it every so often for her when things at the camp got really rough. In the week and a half since he’d moved in, he’d made it a weekend treat for her, and she wasn’t complaining.

She sat and quietly enjoyed her drink while, on her right, Jill and David chattered happily about how Jill and Gwen had met years ago in their first year at college. She wasn’t worried about the embarrassing parts of her history being dredged up; while Jill knew damn near everything, she wasn’t the sort of person who would tell those stories out of the blue, and David wasn’t the sort of person who would ask. A conversation between the two of them would make Gwen sound like a saint, and while inaccurate, she didn’t mind the flattery.

“Oh, David, you are _too_ funny,” Jill was laughing, one hand on his knee. “And so cute! Gwen, you never told me what a _charmer_ he was.”

Jill glanced back at Gwen, who snorted into her coffee, taken by surprise. Before she could respond, Max came out of the kitchen, looking at his iPod screen as he headed for Gwen’s chair.

“Don’t bother, lady,” the boy said without looking up. “After all these years, I’m pretty sure David’s gay.” Gwen knew he knew this probably wasn’t true, but Max said a lot of things that weren’t true, if he thought they’d get a rise out of David.

“Now, Max,” David said sternly. “Don’t be like that. You know as well as I do that there’s nothing wrong with being gay. Besides, I’m pansexual!”

Max looked up from his screen, wide-eyed, and Gwen had to put her cup down to avoid spilling it in containing herself. She could see Max trying to compute all the information he had just received that he had never wanted. He slid out of the chair and headed slowly for his bedroom, entirely silent as he crossed the living room and finally shut the door behind him.

“Did I do something wrong?” David asked, tossing Gwen a nervous smile.

“Absolutely not,” she giggled, still trying to suppress her laughter. “God, I thought he _knew_. The kid’s an idiot, but he’s not stupid.”

Jill stayed awhile longer, finishing up her coffee and continuing to chat happily with David. Gwen chipped in occasionally, only half-paying attention to the conversation. Eventually Jill told them she did have to get a move on with her day, and they walked her back to the front door.

“Gwen, do you want me to keep mum about your situation for now, or should I let people know?” Jill asked as she put her jacket back on.

“Uh… jeez.” Gwen ran a hand down her face. She didn’t look forward to explaining this to the rest of her friends, but that was probably the best way. “No, I’ll do it. I’ll try to hop online in the next couple days and give everyone the rundown. Thanks, though, Jill.”

“No problem, honey.” Jill shouldered her bag and glanced at David. “It was wonderful to meet you, David. Do you do hugs?”

“I do!” he answered excitedly, jumping forward to hug her. Pulling away, he said, “It was great to meet you too, Jill. I hope we see you again soon!”

“I hope so too!” she agreed brightly. “You guys let me know if you ever need a hand with anything, okay? And Gwen, thank you _so much_ for introducing me to David, he’s absolutely a delight.” Jill tossed David another smile as she gave Gwen’s hand a squeeze, and with a last wave to him, she headed out. Gwen raised an eyebrow and glanced back over her shoulder at David, but he was smiling as naively as usual.

 

“I got a job offer from that interview on Thursday!” David announced happily, waving his phone as he came into the living room later that day.

“Oh, nice,” Gwen said, looking up. She wanted to be bitter at how quickly he’d found something, but frankly her wallet was grateful. “Which one was that?”

“With the post office,” he answered. “I’m going to be a mail carrier!”

“David the mailman,” Max muttered. “Somehow, it makes perfect sense.”

“I’m looking forward to it!” David responded. “I get to be outside and active, I get to meet all kinds of people, I’ll get to know the city better… It should be fun!” He looked back to Gwen. “They want me to start training a week Monday, so I have a little more time at home, and then my hours should be more or less regular. We should work on finding a sitter for when you can’t be here in the afternoons.”

“Yeah… I guess you’re right,” she agreed. “We should check out that agency Ms. Zhang told us about. She described their sitters as ‘robust.’” She used finger quotes, eyeballing Max pointedly, but he wasn’t looking.

“But! Saturday is our day off from responsibilities. What are we doing today? We have the whole afternoon, we should do something fun,” David suggested, sitting down in his chair next to Gwen’s and shooting her a hopeful smile.

“Oh, uh…” She hesitated, uncertain how to answer. “I… don’t know? I don’t go out a lot.” Unless she had specific plans with someone, Gwen was a stay-in kind of person more often than not. She glanced across the room at Max on the couch, already rolling his eyes at David’s puppy-like energy.

“Come on,” David insisted. “I’ve spent almost no time in NYC before this. I want to go out and explore!”

“I mean… I guess there are like, some parks and stuff in the area, if you wanna start with that?” Gwen said with a shrug.

“That sounds great! Max, what do you think? You wanna go get some fresh air?” David bounced to his feet.

Max groaned.

And just over half an hour later, Gwen and Max were following David around the nearest park, hands tucked in their coat pockets, while David exclaimed over ever every tree in sight.

“Oh, come on, you two!” he said, not letting their disinterest damper his enthusiasm in the slightest. “It’s such a nice day, and we’re in such a wonderful place!”

“I’ve seen parks before, David,” Max responded, voice bored. “They’re all the same.”

“Sorry, David,” Gwen said with a shrug. She was going to offer an excuse, but she didn’t have one that wasn’t incredibly lame, so she just smiled awkwardly. She wasn’t big on parks, and she was distracted anyway, worrying over how to explain Max to the rest of her friends. It was going to be a long and frustrating conversation, she figured, but seeing Jill had been a clear reminder that she couldn’t just _not_ say anything.

They walked along a gravel path through a stand of trees, coming out with a pond on their left and an open field on their right. A fat little dog with a cropped tail and a kinky brown coat waddled happily toward them, winding its way around all of their legs.

“Hi, little fella!” David greeted, crouching down to pet it. The animal immediately starting nosing the corner of David’s denim jacket, and the redhead grinned. “Ah, sorry buddy, I don’t know if you’re allowed treats.”

“You carry dog treats in your pocket?” Max asked, lifting an eyebrow.

“Yeah,” David said as Gwen crouched next to him to rub the dog’s back. “I forgot they were in there, actually. But my mom has a dog I like to spoil… plus, carrying treats is a great way to make friends with every dog you meet.”

“As if that’s hard,” Max muttered. The dog had made its way to him, though, and a bit of a smile broke through his tired expression as it rubbed against his jeans. He reached down and scratched the animal between its ears. “Hi.”

“There you are, Murph,” a rotund older gentleman said as he approached. “He’s not bothering you, is he?”

“Of course not,” Gwen told him. “He’s a charming little guy.” She liked dogs. They were good friends. They’d listen if you needed it, but they didn’t _need_ an explanation for your major life changes. So charmingly uncomplicated.

“A glutton for attention, that one,” the man laughed. His smile was bright in his round, dark face.

“Is he allowed treats?” David asked, pulling a plastic baggy out of his pocket. “I didn’t want to give him anything without checking…”

“Oh, of course!” the man agreed. “He might even give you a handshake for it, if he’s feeling cooperative.”

David opened the bag, paused, and then held it out to Max. The boy hesitated for a second, then took a treat and held it up in front of the dog. “So it’s Murphy, huh?” he asked the dog quietly. Holding out his other hand, palm up, he tried, “Shake?”

Gwen and David watched as Murphy rocked back on his haunches and stretched up, dropping a paw into Max’s hand. His little tail wagged wildly as Max broke into a bigger grin and gave him the biscuit. “Good boy,” he said softly, petting Murphy’s head again.

David was crouching to scratch the dog’s back again. “These treats are all the way from Canada,” he told the dog cheerfully. “Better enjoy it.”

“You guys tourists?” the man asked with a smile.

“Nah, just him,” Gwen answered. “Sort of.” Not knowing how to succinctly explain the situation to a stranger felt like a pointed reminder from the universe that she needed to figure some shit out. Frowning in thought, she returned her gaze to Murphy, who was sniffing Max’s butt, despite the boy’s laughing protests. She wished her life could be half so simple. More time to focus on butts would be ideal.

“Dual citizen,” David explained, standing to shake the man’s hand. “New to the city, though.”

“That’s great,” the man said. “This is a good area. I’m sure you’ll be happy here.” He gave the three of them a once-over. “You make an appealingly odd little family,” he laughed.

“They’re not family. Family sucks,” Max answered, still focussed on Murphy. “David and Gwen are terrible, but everyone else is worse.” David and Gwen exchanged surprised glances – the statement was even enough to startle Gwen away from her lingering concerns and back to the present. The old man chuckled slightly.

They visited with Murphy for a moment longer, then the old man patted his leg and said, “C’mon, Murph, let’s get a move on. Game’s on soon.” The little dog went to follow him, and he waved to the three of them as he turned around. “Have a great evening, folks.”

David glanced down at Max, who was watching Murphy still. “I didn’t know you liked dogs, Max,” he said.

“They’re cool,” Max answered. “I guess. I mean, they’re everything that drives me fucking _nuts_ about people, but it’s fine ‘cause they don’t try to convince you to be that way too, I guess.” He looked around for a minute, apparently embarrassed. “Let’s go check out that pond or something.”

David and Gwen followed him down to the water and sat on a bench nearby as Max used a stick to stir around the algae and poke at rocks by the water’s edge. After a minute or two, Gwen glanced at David. “So… that was something.”

David nodded. “Dogs make people more honest, I think,” he said. Then, pulling his gaze away from the pond, he looked over at her. “When I was a kid – way younger that Max – I was really shy. My mom started taking me out to parks or trails with dog treats and getting me to give them to people’s dogs. She told me that they were a great starting point to talking to people, because _everybody_ loves talking about their dogs. She was right.” He shrugged, smiling. “It worked really well. Max isn’t shy so much as just _angry_ , but y’know… could be some of the same effect.”

Gwen was covering her own smile with one hand. “Sorry, that’s just like, the cutest fucking story you’ve ever told me,” she laughed. “I have this mental image of a tiny Davey wandering around handing treats to every dog he finds…” She was picturing the version of him she’d seen in photos of his childhood as a camper, small and nervous and utterly adorable. She wondered if Maureen had ever taken pictures of him with the dogs, and made a mental note to text the woman later and ask. If she was willing to bring photos on her next visit – and what mom _didn’t_ love showing off baby pictures of her fully-grown son? – Gwen would be over the moon.

“That’s basically how it went,” he agreed with a chuckle.

“Hey, can we go?” Max called. They glanced over; he was frowning at them from the water’s edge. “I found a dead fish and I wanna wash my hands before I catch a disease.”

 

Gwen grimaced at her laptop screen that evening as her friends reacted to the three-paragraph explanation she'd dumped into their group chat. It had taken her nearly an hour to write it out to her own satisfaction, and that was after spending all evening avoiding her computer even once she’d decided that she was best to just get it over with.  They had demanded photos of her new roommates immediately, and she'd begrudgingly complied with a shot she'd quietly taken of the two of them at camp the previous summer, during one of their rare moments of getting along.

Jill had jumped in immediately too, quick to talk both of them up. _Max has kind of that rude-kid charm,_ she told them. _And gosh, David is just absolutely the sweetest! Cute, funny, kind… he's the whole package if you ask me ;)_

 _So when do we get to meet these guys??_ Kendra was asking.

Gwen cringed. _I don't think a meet-the-boys party is a great idea,_ she told them. _Max would hate it, anyway. Maybe I'll bring David out to one of our bar nights once things are more settled and we find a good sitter. One with a soul Max can’t destroy._

 _Yes!_ responded Tamayo. _I wanna meet Jill's new crush :)_

Gwen didn't know why that comment in particular raised her hackles, or why her skin crawled as Jill, embarrassed, made an intentionally half-assed attempt at denial. As the others started ribbing Jill about it, a weird discomfort settled in her stomach.

 _I gotta go,_ she typed quickly. _Talk to you guys soon, promise!_ Then she slammed her laptop shut and pushed it back on her desk.

She opened her door and went to Max's, knocking and then pushing it open a crack so he and David in the living room could both hear her. “You guys wanna watch a movie?” she asked impulsively. She'd meant to tell them that all her friends couldn't wait to meet them, but then… she didn't want to.

Max looked up from his DS. “What do you have in mind?”

“I dunno. I just wanna stay up late and watch something ridiculous,” she admitted with a shrug.

“Yeah… I guess I'm up for that,” Max agreed, pushing himself off the bed.

“Sounds great!” David agreed from the couch. “Who wants snacks?”

“Dibs on the sour candy,” Max called.

Gwen smiled as she took the middle seat on the couch, listening to Max and David bickering on either side of her. Finding a movie all three of them could agree on was a challenge, but tonight she didn't mind it. It took nearly twenty minutes, but they got there in the end.

She sat back comfortably, munching pretzels and letting her leg rest against David's as she tucked her feet up under her. He was warm and the contact was nice and when he pulled his knitted blanket over his lap he tossed it over hers too.

This was good: the three of them on the couch, warm and safe, able to share something. These were the moments that made Gwen feel like things were going to turn out fine.


	5. First Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First day of foster care classes. First day of David's new job. First day of school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!!! I love this chapter tbh and I think you will too. It's been one of my favourites to write so far.
> 
> Not much else to say. Enjoy, and let me know what you thought! As always, your comments keep me going!

In the passenger seat of David’s little car, Gwen sifted through a stack of pamphlets and information packets they’d received at their first foster care class. The papers contained information about all kinds of different skills the classes would cover and resources for learning more. It was all a little wholesome for her taste, but she’d put up with it.

“I feel like this is the training I should’ve gotten for my job,” she observed, peering at a trifold about conflict resolution under the dim light of a streetlamp as they waited for traffic to move again.

“At the bookstore?” David asked, tossing her a puzzled glance.

“At the camp, David,” she answered with a little sigh.

“Oh, of course.” He eased the car forward a few hopeful inches. “I… suppose that’s fair. Mr. Campbell’s training program isn’t the most robust.”

“His training program is a thirty-minute instructional video from 1978 about how to prevent child death and legal persecution,” Gwen pointed out, never one to let their shoddy boss off the hook. She put the papers back down in her lap, shuffling them back into some semblance of neatness. “Speaking of training, how was your first day at work? We didn’t have much time to talk about it before the class.”

“Oh, Gwen, it was wonderful!” he said excitedly. “It’s so much fun. The route I’ll be taking over is in an area without postal boxes, so I get to go up to each house and get a look at things. And I love delivering packages, because then you get to go right up and knock on the door, so sometimes I meet people!”

She listened, amused by his enthusiasm, as he sang the praises of Qasim, the man who was training him before retiring. It was Qasim’s delivery route that David would take over, his first solo run being a week or so out. She was entertained, if also a little mystified, by his excitement over learning about new neighbourhoods and meeting new people and spending his days outside.

“I never saw myself becoming a mail carrier, Gwen, but I think I’m going to really like it,” he told her happily. “Isn’t it funny how life sends you in new directions like that, and you find yourself doing things you never planned for?”

“You could say that,” she admitted, smile fading a little. “We’ve certainly been thrown a few curveballs lately.”

“But we’re rolling with them just fine,” David answered. “Things have been going well, don’t you think?”

She bit her lip, looking out the window in the direction of her – their – building, as if she might be able to see it from where they were. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We left Max alone with a poor unsuspecting babysitter for the first time.”

“Well… she came from the agency Ms. Zhang recommended,” he said slowly. “So surely they’ve dealt with difficult kids before? And we did tell him to be on his best behaviour.”

“Right.” Gwen rubbed her eyes. “So let’s hope the building is still standing when we get there.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” he told her.

Ten minutes later, they let themselves into the apartment. From the door they could see Max on the couch with his DS, tossing them only a cursory glance as they came in. “Hello?” David called.

“Oh. One moment,” came the answer from the kitchen. As Gwen and David hung their coats up on the hooks on the wall, the young woman stepped into view, running her hand back through her long brown hair – which had been considerably neater earlier that evening – and gave them a smile that looked rather strained.

“Oh god. He broke her,” Gwen whispered, and David glanced at her nervously.

“How did the evening go, Kristen?” he asked, looking back up at the sitter.

“Oh, uh, fine,” she answered uncomfortably. “We had mac ‘n cheese for dinner, with some carrots on the side. Um, he was… he was fine. He was quite cooperative.”

The pair exchanged frowns again. “That’s… that’s good,” David said slowly. “Um, let me write you your cheque. What do we owe you?”

Once Kristen was gone – “I gave her a big tip,” David said as he shut the door behind her – Gwen stepped into the living room and stood over Max, arms crossed.

“We told you to be good,” she said, her tone threatening.

“I _was_ pretty good!” Max protested, putting his game aside.

“Then why did she look like you crushed her fucking _soul?_ ” Gwen demanded.

“I dunno! It’s not my fault she asked me what I wanted to be one day!” The boy threw his arms in the air. “I only told her the truth! I did it without even swearing very much!”

Gwen put a hand over her eyes. Next to her, David rubbed his arm. “Well, I guess we’ll just have to try someone else next time…” he said quietly.

“Max, you’re like a psychological vampire,” Gwen complained with a sigh, dropping next to him on the couch and knocking his knee with her own. “You just feed off of other people’s joylessness.”

“Have you seen how skinny I am?” he retorted, lifting his shirt to reveal a thin sliver of flat brown belly. “I could be _way_ worse, but I only take what I need to survive.” He stuck his tongue out at her, and she turned away, trying not to let him see her laugh.

David perched on the edge of his armchair. “Hey, I have good news for you guys I’ve been waiting all day to share,” he said, grinning hopefully.

“Oh yeah?” Max looked up. “Did that school decide they don’t want me after all? I wouldn’t mind, I promise.”

“ _No_ ,” Gwen said, jabbing him in the side. “You’re starting tomorrow, like it or not.”

“Damn,” he muttered. “Fine, then, what’s this so-called ‘good news,’ David?”

“You remember that man we met at the park last weekend, with the little dog Murphy?” David asked. They both nodded, and he continued, “It turns out he’s on my postal route! His name is Joe. He told me he orders a lot of packages, so I’ll probably see him often! Isn’t that great?”

Gwen cracked a smile. “That’s pretty cool,” she admitted. “He seemed like a nice guy.”

“Maybe I’ll ask if we can hang out with Murphy again sometime,” David said, eyeing Max.

Max was looking down into his lap again. “Yeah… that might be cool, I guess,” he said, but Gwen, next to him, could tell he was feigning the disinterest again.

“And,” David continued, looking at Gwen, “your friend Jill is on my route too! What are the odds? Maybe I’ll see her once in a while!”

“Yeah, maybe.” Gwen nodded, smiling and not certain why it wasn’t quite coming naturally. “It… makes sense that you two would get along so well.”

“She’s very nice,” he answered. “She made it sound like you have kind of a group of friends. You haven’t mentioned them much, do you see them often?”

“Oh.” Gwen glanced down quickly, feeling awkward, then forced herself to meet his eye again, still pushing the smile. “Yeah, I mean, once in a while. Every three or four weeks I guess? And I meet up with some of them individually once in a blue moon. They’re a good bunch. They want to meet you,” she added. She was still reluctant to move forward with that, but it seemed like the time to mention it.

“Oh, that would be great!” David said excitedly. “It’d be nice to make a few friends in the area.”

“Yeah. I told them I’d bring you down to one of our bar nights once we find a Max-proof sitter. Which, apparently, we _have to keep working on_ ,” she said, looking pointedly over a Max again.

“Sor- _ry_ ,” Max said again, rolling his eyes. “Seriously though, I _did_ try.”

 

Max had been rolling over and back in bed for a good half hour when he finally got up. A glass of water would help him settle, he decided. He crept across the room, as quietly as possible out of years of habit, and opened the door just far enough to slip out. The light was on in the kitchen across the hall, and he tiptoed over the carpet toward the door. As he drew close he realized that Gwen and David were talking quietly inside. Keeping slightly to one side, he paused next to the door, listening.

“No, it’s nothing,” Gwen was saying.

“Are you sure?” David asked. “It seems like _something’s_ bothering you.”

Max watched her shadow on the hall floor, slumping down against the table, head resting on top of folded arms. “I’m just… I hope you really do enjoy the new job, David.”

“I already told you I think I will,” he answered, confused.

“Yeah, I know…” She sighed. “I just keep thinking… I don’t know. I keep remembering that you’re a youth worker. Which I still can’t believe I somehow never fucking knew. But, like, you just up and moved your whole life down here, and had to take some random unexpected job so abruptly, and that’s… that’s at least partly my fault. I feel like I’ve gotten so much in the way of your life.” Max swallowed, trying to ignore the sudden twist in his gut.

There was a pause. “Do you have a job at all related to your education?” David asked.

Gwen’s head moved; Max pictured her looking up at David in irritation. “No. I work in a goddamn bookstore. You _know_ that.”

“Okay,” he answered. “So neither of us have careers right now. Neither of us have much in the way of a path forward, at least definitely not one we planned on. I didn’t at home, either. I was working in a gift store before I came here. That’s fine. We’re still young. Don’t worry about _my_ career, Gwen.”

“I…” She sounded sad. “It’s not just your career, David, it’s _everything_.”

“My life is for me to worry about,” he said, and Max watched in the door-shaped shadow as David put a hand on Gwen’s shoulder. “And I came here for you and Max. I _want_ to be here. You don’t need to worry about that. I’m not unhappy.”

Max held his breath while there was another silence, longer this time.

“Are you unhappy?” David asked softly.

Max’s stomach turned over and his heart squeezed tight in the pause that followed. Finally Gwen breathed, “I don’t know.” Max, biting his lip, wanted desperately to return to his bed and stop listening to this conversation, but he was afraid they’d notice if he scurried away now. Then Gwen continued, “I’m not unhappy you and Max are here. It’s still weird and confusing, but I’m glad he’s not stuck with his parents any more, and I’m glad he trusts us to look after him and so does Ms. Zhang. But I’m not sure if _I_ trust me to look after him. I really don’t have my shit together, David. Max deserves someone who knows what the hell she’s doing. I don’t want to ruin his second chance for him.”

“Max deserves someone who cares about him,” David answered. “And you may not say it much, at least not the way most people do, but I know you _do_ care about him. And he knows it too.” Of course he knew. He pretended not to, pretended it wasn’t mutual, but of course he _knew_.

“You sure?” she asked. “My parents fucked up pretty bad when it came to affection, David. I don’t know how to do it right. I don’t want to have the same impact on him.”

“You won’t,” David said. “Wanting to make sure you’re different from your parents is enough to make that difference.”

“How would you know?” she complained. “Your mom is awesome. I bet you had the nicest childhood ever.”

There was another pause, and Max wondered what there was about that for David to think about.

“My mom is amazing,” David agreed. “And she gave me the greatest childhood she could, and I’ll never be able to thank her enough. But she’s the only one to thank. My dad took off when I was seven, and I can count the number of times I’ve seen him since then on one hand.”

Max watched in the shadow as Gwen lifted her head. “How come I never knew that, either?” she asked quietly. Max was thinking it over himself. It made sense, somehow. It definitely made David’s adoration for Campbell make sense. But still, it changed things. The way David was… it was easy to believe his life was perfect. He was so happy.

“I really don’t talk about it,” David told her. “But, you know, that’s part of why I love working with kids. I want to be something for them I never had, especially if they need it. Right now Max needs it, badly. So I’m here. I’m glad to be here.”

Gwen started to straighten up, rubbing her arms and looking away from him. Max shifted an inch further from the door, his back to the wall. “Really?”

“Really,” he assured her.

They paused again. Then Gwen said quietly, “Well, your dad’s a loser with terrible judgment, and I’m glad he took off and somehow taught you to be a good person, instead of sticking around and teaching you to also be a loser with terrible judgment.” She turned her head, probably glancing at him again, Max assumed. “You’re a really good not-quite-dad, David.”

David didn’t respond at first. Then Max heard him sniffle. “You think so?” he asked, voice wobbling a little.

“Yeah. It’s pretty clear.” She hesitated, then added, “I figure one day you’ll probably be a pretty great actual dad, too.” Max followed the shadow of her bobbing ponytail as she looked down.

David sniffled again. “Thanks,” he breathed, letting out a long breath.

Max listened in silence as the two of them sat quietly for a minute, David taking a few slow, deep breaths. Then, steeling himself, Max turned toward the door. Yawning widely and squinting against the light, he padded into the kitchen as casually as he could.

“Oh. Max,” David said, surprised. He wiped the back of his hand quickly over his eyes. “What are you still doing up?”

The boy shrugged. “Just needed a glass of water,” he said, making an effort to sound as drowsy as possible. Feigning that he’d just gotten up was better than getting caught tiptoeing around in the hall.

Gwen stood up and took a tall glass out of one of the cupboards above the sink. “Here,” she said, filling it up. “Keep it on your bedside table overnight, if you want.”

Max nodded tiredly. “Thanks,” he said, taking the glass in both hands and turning around. “’Night,” he added in his sleepiest voice, returning softly to his bedroom.

The door shut once again, a glass of water on his nightstand, Max lay in bed and considered everything he’d just heard.

Gwen and David were still annoying as hell. He could barely stand them. Living with them was boring as fuck. Part of him almost looked forward to school, if only to break up the monotony of the days in the apartment. God, living with his camp counsellors? What a terrible twist of fate.

But… maybe he’d picked all right.

It could probably be worse.

 

Gwen had walked to pick Max up from school. It was a bit of a hike, but she didn’t feel like spending the money on the bus, at least as long as the weather was still decent. She stood outside the doors, an awkward distance away from other waiting parents who looked too old and too mature for her to comfortably mingle with, and waited for the bell to ring. Shortly after it did, she saw Max shove his way out of the doors, disentangling himself as quickly as he could from the heavy traffic of freed students. His head was ducked down and he clutched the straps of his backpack as if he feared someone was going to rip it off his shoulders.

He glanced around, looking mildly disconcerted by the crowd of waiting parents, and Gwen cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted his name. His blue-green eyes locked on hers and he made his way quickly towards her.

“How was the first day, kid?” she asked, deciding not to remark on the way he walked tight against her hip as they headed towards the gate.

“Shitty,” he answered immediately. Then, glancing up at her sideways as she raised an eyebrow, he continued, “…I guess it was okay. The teachers are teachers. The other kids are… other kids. I dunno. It was school.”

“I’m curious about something,” Gwen said slowly. “You seem to do fine with other kids at camp. Is it not like that at school?”

He shrugged one shoulder as they made their way onto the sidewalk. “I dunno. I guess I’m better at smaller groups.” He paused, then added, “It’s also probably way easier to make friends when you’re trapped in a tiny hellhole together.” He held out his hands in a globe shape, squeezing inward as if to indicate the cage that was Camp Campbell. “Neil and Nikki and I bonded off the bat in our escape attempt. It’s not like that at school.”

“Was there anyone around that you _do_ think you could make friends with?” she asked. “Surely you have a sixth sense for fellow shit-disturbers.” It crossed her mind that his overall situation – foster kid, starting at school almost a month late, still dealing with the psychological fallout of removing himself from his own home and launching a legal case against his own parents – might make him retreat into himself somewhat, so she wanted to encourage him to make connections.

“Maybe,” he said, shrugging again. “I guess there were one or two kids I might get along with.”

“Any homework we should be worrying about for you to get caught up on?” she asked, changing tack. He didn’t seem to want to talk about people. She wouldn’t push too hard for now.

“I have a book I’m supposed to read,” he admitted with a sigh. “The rest of the class is already on chapter four. And I have a packet for the first unit of math that I have to fill out for the teacher by the end of next week. The other subjects my teachers said I could catch up on in class.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad,” she said. Glancing down, she offered, “Tell you what. Why don’t we pick up some snacks on the way home and sit down in the living room to read all afternoon? We can take over David’s bed and fill it with crumbs.”

He considered that for a moment. “Yeah, I guess that would be okay,” he said.

They walked in silence for a minute or two, and then Max – who had been fidgeting with a held-in question, but Gwen had decided to wait instead of probe – looked up at her and asked, “When can I have Neil and Nikki over?”

She glanced at him again and saw that he really was anxious to see them. The ends of his hoodie strings were clutched in his hands, and he sawed them back and forth as he waited for an answer. Sighing, she pulled her phone out of her pocket and glanced at the calendar. “There’s Columbus Day weekend,” she said. “A long weekend would probably be a good opportunity for something like that. You should message them when we get home and see if they’re free.”

“Really?” He lit up, then quickly looked down so she couldn’t see his grin.

“Yeah. I mean, I’ll have to run it past David, but let’s be real, he’d _love_ to have Neil and Nikki come visit.” She rolled her eyes. “God, that’ll be a lot of people in my apartment.”

“You’ll probably live,” Max assured her.

 

“I’m home!” David announced cheerfully, coming through the door just before six that evening. When there was no answer, he glanced down the hallway, and a grin spread on his face as he wondered if he really saw what he thought he saw. Shuffling out of his jacket, he crept into the apartment and around to the foot of the couch bed, his eyes growing as wide as saucers as he took in the view. His smile was enormous.

Gwen was stretched out on the couch bed, her head on his pillow and her legs still crossed even as she slept. Her thumb was in the middle of her book, holding her page beside her on the mattress. Her other hand rested on Max’s shoulder where he lay asleep with his head on her stomach, feet out by the far edge of the bed. His own book lay open and upside down on his chest, his hands tucked cosily into the pocket on his hoodie.

David, biting his tongue to contain his delight, fumbled for his phone and quickly snapped a dozen photos from different angles, taking a moment to pick his favourite and set it as his lock screen, and send a copy to his mother. Then he gingerly picked up their books, tucking old receipts into the pages as bookmarks and then putting them on the side table. “I guess I’ll just get started on dinner,” he whispered to the quiet room, still smiling uncontrollably.


	6. Cramps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gwen is having a rough day, and Max begrudgingly asks David what they can do to help her out. David couldn't be happier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is so self-indulgent but I LOVE it, hehe. Hope you do too!
> 
> Some important shoutouts:  
> -the lovely R.A. Enbows let me borrow her excellent 'David gives amazing massages and Gwen makes lots of embarrassing noises when she receives them' headcanon for this chapter! Check out that and her other amazing Camp Camp art and more at raenbowsofficial.tumblr.com!  
> -and, the wonderful Bunny allowed me the use of her 'David and Gwen have singing-and-dancing parties together' headcanon! It's only mentioned in passing here but it'll appear more in a later chapter (: Check out that and her other gorgeous Camp Camp art and more, including one lovely sketch based on the previous chapter of RAH, at white-bow-tie.tumblr.com!
> 
> Enjoy! And as always, I love your comments and feedback <3

“Where’s Gwen?” Max asked around his toothbrush, glancing up at David in the bathroom mirror. David paused in the middle of combing his hair and grimaced.

“She’s… not feeling so well,” he answered evasively.

“Is she sick?” Max asked. “She was complaining about her stomach last night.”

“Well, no…” David replied slowly, tipping his head to one side.

“Oh,” Max said, realization dawning on his face. He spat out a mouthful of toothpaste. “Ohhh.”

“Yeah. She’s having a rough time,” David said, nodding.

“Are we… I mean…” Max put his toothbrush away and wiped his face, glancing down as he considered the question. “Should we like… help somehow?” He gestured inarticulately.

“Well, Max!” David looked down and smiled, both surprised and gleeful. “How sweet of you!”

Max frowned. “Fuck off. We… we live here,” he defended awkwardly. “If she suffers and we’re trapped here with her, we suffer, too.”

David was beaming. “Where should we start?” he asked, fishing to see how nice he could force Max to be.

Max sighed heavily, already irritated. “Has she eaten breakfast?”

“No, I don’t think so,” David answered. “We could make pancakes.”

“Sure. Do her café de whatsit, too. She likes that.” Max followed David out of the bathroom and around into the kitchen.

“Great idea,” David agreed, already pulling ingredients out of the cupboard. “Max, this would be the perfect opportunity to use your new stepstool!”

Max scowled. “I’m not too short to reach the fucking stove, David, don’t be a dick.” David had just bought the stepstool earlier that week, so that Max could reach things in the kitchen better by himself. “Pancakes take eggs, right?” he added, opening the fridge.

“Just one,” David answered, already measuring dry ingredients into a bowl. “And the milk, too.”

The two of them worked together surprisingly well in the kitchen, Max fetching ingredients or putting them away while David mixed. Once David moved to the stove, Max pulled out a cutting board and a knife and started to cut the leaves out of the strawberries from the fridge, dumping them in a bowl with raspberries and blueberries defrosted from frozen. He kept a frown on the whole time, lest David start to think he enjoyed spending time together, but he didn’t mind the job. Max wasn’t a cooking fan like David was, but he didn’t hate it like Gwen, either. He sort of liked it, at least the kind that wasn’t too involved.

“You wanna try this part?” David asked, glancing down at Max when he was finished with the fruit and just leaning against the counter, watching David flip pancakes in a frying pan.

“…Sure,” Max said slowly. He took the spatula he was offered, and let David show him how to pour the batter into the pan, how to check if the bottom was done, how to flip the pancake over quickly. After a few tries he got the hang of it, and David stepped back and let the boy finish the job, grinning hugely. Max, luckily, didn’t turn around and notice, or he would’ve stopped immediately. God forbid he ever do anything to make David that happy.

Once David had a few pancakes, buttered and drowned in the maple syrup he’d brought from home, stacked on a plate with a pile of mixed berries, he glanced down at Max. “You wanna make the delivery, or shall I?”

Max looked at the coffee cup on the counter, thinking. Then he picked it up and handed it to David. “You go,” he said gruffly.

“Okay.” David smiled and took the meal out of the kitchen, and Max heard him knock on Gwen’s door.

A few minutes later the two of them sat down to the table to eat their own share of the breakfast feast. Noticing Max reading the label on the maple syrup, he commented, “My mom and I have a tradition of tapping the trees in the backyard and making our own syrup every year.”

Max paused, then glanced up at the redhead with narrowed eyes. “Are you shitting me?” he asked quietly. “How Canadian _are_ you?”

David grinned.

 

After the two of them had cleaned up from breakfast, David glanced over at Max, who stood staring into the fridge. “What’re you looking for?”

“Well, I just…” Max half-looked over his shoulder, then back into the fridge, not meeting David’s eye. “Isn’t she… you know, supposed to have chocolate, or whatever? I can’t find any.”

David smiled widely once again. “Should we make a run down to the store?” he asked.

Max hesitated a moment, then sighed heavily and closed the fridge, a little harder than necessary. “Yeah, I guess.”

They slipped into their jackets to protect them from the chilly wind, and David knocked on Gwen’s door again to tell her they were stepping out. All he received in response was a loud grunt. He leaned into the washroom to check the contents of the cupboard, and then they set off.

They walked down the block to the big drugstore on the corner, heads ducked against the wind. Inside, Max tried to push his hair back into some semblance of its original shape, little noises of irritation escaping as he wrestled with it. “All these curls are a nightmare,” he complained, as much to himself as to David.

“Do you want to get a haircut?” David asked.

Max tossed him a dirty look. “No,” he answered shortly.

Amused, David glanced at the aisle signs, then pointed. “Why don’t you go find some chocolate for her while I grab a couple other things, and I’ll meet you up at the front.”

Max nodded and strolled away towards the grocery side of the store. Staring at a vast display of chocolate, he hesitated, suddenly faced with the need to narrow down to what kind Gwen actually liked. Wracking his brain, he came up with a vague memory that she liked her chocolate dark, so after staring at a whole row of dark chocolate bars, he picked one at random. Then his eye was caught by a bar of chocolate with jalapeno in it, and remembering her comment about eating jalapenos off the plant in childhood, he grabbed that too. Feeling strange, he wandered down the aisle, staring at the huge number of chocolates and candies available.

At the end of the aisle he turned a corner and found himself facing the freezers. Peering at the ice cream display, he spotted something that looked promising, and after a moment’s consideration he opened the door and grabbed it.

Slowly, and feeling very awkward, Max puttered his way back to the front of the store. He saw David approach the magazine and book display and shuffled over to join him.

“I found some chocolate?” he said uncertainly, holding up the bars. David glanced down, reading the labels, and then nodded with a smile.

“She should like those,” he said. “And what’s that?”

Max looked down at the tub of ice cream again, then held it up for David to see. “It’s… some kind of triple-chocolate-fudge flavour,” he answered. “I dunno, it just… seemed appropriate?”

David laughed. “Seems right,” he agreed. He looked back down at the book rack, pulling out a cheesy-looking paperback and skimming the back cover. “Okay,” he said, nodding and adding the book to his basket. “I think we’re set.”

David paid for their purchase and the pair of them set off back home. “Here,” David said, handing Max the bag as they got in the door and he peeled off his coat. “I really have to go to the bathroom.”

Max looked into the bag for a minute, then took it to the kitchen. He was going to put the ice cream into the freezer, but then he changed his mind, putting it down on the counter. Grateful David wasn’t there to see, he quickly used his stepstool to get a bowl out of the cupboard, then grabbed a spoon and served out a couple big scoops of the ice cream. Shoving the tub into the freezer, he shouldered the grocery bag and headed across the hall.

“Uh… Gwen?” he said softly, knocking on the door.

“Yeah?” It was as much a groan as a word, the shortness of her patience more than apparent.

Max opened the door a little bit, stepping halfway into the room. “Uh, we’re back…” He looked down at the bowl in his hand, then swallowed and hurried across the room, holding it out in front of him. “We went to get you some stuff. Uh, I picked some chocolate out, and I found this super-chocolate ice cream I thought you might be into.” Looking up for the first time, he realized she was laying upside-down on her bed with her butt scooted up against the headboard and her legs against the wall, a heating pad on her stomach. She stared at him for a second, eyebrows raised, and then pushed herself up and turned around.

Taking the bowl and spoon he offered, Gwen tasted the ice cream, then nodded. “Yeah, this is good.” Max, looking a fraction less nervous, held out the grocery bag, and she peeked inside. Chocolate bars, a shitty romance, a magazine, Midol, pads. Clearly David had checked her stock before they went out. Pulling out the chocolate, she had a look at the labels. “Hey, I like the look of these,” she said with a small smile. “Good work, kid.”

Max looked down, shoving his hands in his hoodie pocket and kicked at the carpet. “Cool. Anyway, uh, I’ll leave you alone, I guess.”

Gwen watched him as he headed for the door. “Hey,” she called, and he paused, still listening but not looking at her. “Thanks, Max. If I feel better later, you wanna play some games?”

“Yeah, sure,” he answered, nodding without looking back.

“Cool.” She bit her tongue as he started to leave again, then added, “Tell David to come in here when he has a minute.”

“Sure.” Max pulled the door shut behind him.

 

David was coming out of the washroom when Max emerged from Gwen’s room. “Oh!” the redhead said cheerfully. “Did you take her everything we brought home already?”

Max nodded, looking at the floor. “It seems like she’s in a better mood,” he said slowly. “Uh, she wants to see you, when you have a minute.”

“Okay,” David answered. “What’re you up to now?”

“I dunno,” Max said, shrugging. “Gonna play a game, I guess? This place is boring.”

“Why don’t you get some time in on that book you’re supposed to be working on for school?” David suggested.

Max threw his head back and groaned. “Seriously? Do you have to be this way?”

“Yes,” David told him. Because if Max did poorly in school, they wouldn’t be allowed to keep him. “Because I want you to succeed in life, Max! And reading is so good for your mind!”

“You’re the worst,” Max answered, marching into his bedroom. David went to the door to watch while Max pulled the book out of his backpack and plunked down in the bed, opening the pages with a dramatic sigh. “This book sucks balls.”

“I loved it,” David countered. “I’ll be back in a bit to check in.”

“Go away.”

Hiding a smile, David turned towards Gwen’s door and poked his head in. “I heard you wanted me?”

Gwen, finishing her ice cream already, glanced up and nodded. “Thanks for the care package,” she said.

“You seem in a better mood,” he observed hopefully.

“Max startled the bitchy out of me by being nice,” she explained, shrugging one shoulder. “It’ll be back before long, don’t worry. You can come in, you know.”

He stepped inside, closing the door gently behind him. “What can I do for you, Gwen?”

Gwen smiled awkwardly, putting the empty bowl aside on her bedside table and rubbing her neck with the other hand. There was a beat, and then she sighed and said, “Okay, I know it’s kinda gross and stuff, but I have back cramps something _terrible_ and I was wondering if you’d be so kind as to work your magic on them for a minute?” She wiggled her fingers in the air. “I’m sorry, I don’t want to… subject you to all this, or whatever. I just can’t shake them to save my life and I’m getting really desperate here.”

“Of course!” he answered, face lighting up. Approaching the bed, he drew a circle in the air with his index finger. “Lay down and roll over.”

“Thank you,” she sighed, pulling her hoodie off before doing as he suggested. She crossed her arms under her head, and a moment later she felt his fingers against the small of her back, pressing through the fabric of her t-shirt.

“No problem,” David said simply, his knuckles digging into the muscles on either side of her spine. “Tell me where.” She gave him little instructions – in or out, up or down – and let out a long, low moan when he found the right spot. “There’s nothing gross about this, by the way,” he added softly after a few moments. “I don’t mind at all.”

“You’re a goddamn saint, David,” she told him, letting out another satisfied groan. He chuckled.

“I feel like that’s a contradiction in terms.”

Gwen didn’t have the motivation to snap back at him for that, given that she was too busy appreciating the massage. The sounds she was making weren’t entirely alien to David – he’d done this for her a few times before, when she really needed the tension out – but it crossed his mind that she must _really_ be in pain to be making a ruckus like this. He was mildly embarrassed, and hoped there weren’t neighbours immediately on the other side of the wall to overhear.

“Ohhhh _god_ , David,” she groaned loudly as he rubbed the cramps out of her lower back, working his way out towards her hips and back in again. “ _Fuck_ , I needed this. Holy shit.”

“You’re very tense,” he remarked. Despite his embarrassment, he could feel the knots in her muscles, and couldn’t help himself from working his way up to her shoulders and back down again. Clearly she needed it, and he wanted to help.

“Can you fucking blame me?” she asked, an edge to her voice now.

“Of course not,” he answered quickly, and her irritation suddenly dissolved as he rubbed the tension out of her neck and shoulders. She melted into the mattress, a long, loud moan escaping her throat.

 

Max had been sitting wide-eyed in the next room for a minute or two, mouth set into a deep frown. It seemed unlikely that what was happening in Gwen’s room was what it sounded like, but _Christ_.

Finally he found the nerve to hop out of bed and cross to the opposite wall, pounding a fist against the pale paint job. “Hey, _what the fuck is going on in there?_ ” he shouted. “Can you _stop?!_ ”

“Fuck off, Max!” came Gwen’s voice, muffled through the wall. “I need this!” The last word melted into a long, noisy groan.

“I-it’s just a massage!” David’s voice followed, high-pitched and awkward.

“Holy shit,” Max muttered, mortified. Scrambling back to his bed, he pulled his headphones out of the bedside drawer, plugged them aggressively into his iPod, and turned his music up as high as it would go.

 

David, working his way back down Gwen’s spine with a now-considerable blush on his cheeks, strained his ears, but heard no more complaints from Max. Sighing, he figured he may as well finish the job instead of stopping in the middle and leaving Gwen only halfway relaxed. He rubbed slowly and methodically back down to the point where he’d started, digging his knuckles deep in behind her kidneys and trying to tune out the noises she was making.

He paused in the dimples above her bum, considered for a moment, then sighed again. He could feel that there was still tension down lower. “You want me to keep going in this direction?” he finally asked, awkwardly.

“Nnh… yes,” she moaned. “If you don’t mind.”

“No, it’s all right.” He worked lower into the muscles of her butt, quickly releasing the knotted muscles and then working back up to her hips. Doing one last round in the area where she’d described her cramps, he picked up his hands and then smoothed her t-shirt back down. “Satisfied?”

His answer was another long, low moan. “I owe you,” she finally managed.

“Don’t worry about it,” he assured her. “I’m glad I can help. Do you need anything else?”

She groaned into her pillow. “No… I’m good for now. Thank you, though.”

“No problem.” David reached up and gave Gwen’s shoulder a quick squeeze just before she began to roll back over. “Shout if you need me.”

“Will do.” Shifting back into her position with the heating pad on her stomach and her legs against the wall, Gwen reached for the shopping bag and fished out the book he’d bought her.

David left her room and turned to knock on Max’s door, thinking he’d grab his laptop from the desk and check his email before starting in on some overdue cleaning. As he slipped into the room, the boy glared over at him from the bed, pulling off his headphones.

“David… what the _fuck_ was that?” Max waved a hand at the wall, wide-eyed. “Seriously? Can’t you do shit like that when I’m not here? Or at least more fucking _quietly?_ ”

David flushed again, embarrassed. “Max, really, it wasn’t what you think!” he insisted, holding up his hands. “I was just giving her a rub down!”

Max’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head. “What the _shit?_ ”

“N-no!” David said, louder this time. “I mean, I was– I was only helping her relax!”

Max shouted incoherently, throwing his arms in the air. “ _David!_ ”

“Massage! I-it was a massage!” David yelled back, panicking now.

“David, I really really want to believe you,” Max squawked, looking almost distressed. “But you are making it _so ha_ – so _difficult_ , man, please–”

“She– she was just very tight and–”

Max yelled again, putting his headphones back on and laying down so he could put his pillow over his head.

 

“You got room for a second player?”

Max looked sideways at Gwen as she sat down next to him on the bottom edge of David’s bed. “Yeah. I’ll be done the round in a minute and then we can add you in.”

“Cool.” She picked up a controller and fiddled with it while she waited. Glancing towards the kitchen and then back at Max, who was intent on the screen in front of him, she asked, “Is David avoiding you?” When she’d passed the kitchen door, David had looked more intently focussed on his cooking than she’d ever seen.

“A bit.” Max threw himself sideways as if it would make his on-screen character move faster, cursing when it didn’t work.

“You know it really _was_ just a massage, right?” she asked. “As funny as it is to traumatize you just a little, I do have _some_ dignity. Just, you know, not quite enough to prevent me from making horribly embarrassing sounds while getting a backrub.”

“Yeah, I know,” Max muttered. At these close quarters, Gwen could see the slight pinkish tinge in his brown cheeks that gave away a blush, and she tried to hide her amusement. “He managed to explain himself _eventually_.”

“Be nice,” she told him. “I’m pretty sure David’s mortified.”

“ _David’s_ mortified?” Max demanded. “Did you guys forget about the night Neil and Nikki and I went over to Spooky Island and–” He gulped hard and shook his head. “Nope, nope, not thinking about it, not fucking thinking about it.”

Gwen winced. “Yeah. Sorry. No one deserves _that_.” She watched as Max navigated through the game menus to two-player. “But seriously… David would hate to expose you to anything like that. He probably feels terrible that you even thought it.”

“Ugh.” He rolled his eyes as the next round started. “Just… keep it down next time, okay? I get that you needed it and all, but seriously, that was fucking awful.”

“I’ll try.” Her character wasn’t behaving as expected, and she frowned at the screen. “What the fuck is up with the controls in this game? I roll every time I try to jump and jump every time I try to dodge.”

“Yeah, I know,” he said with a nod. “They changed them in… last year’s release, I think? Dick move, but you’ll get used to it.”

“Guess that’s what I get for not keeping up with the franchise,” she answered. Biting her lip in thought, she took a moment to re-orient herself before jumping back into things with a slightly better grasp on the controls. After a minute, she asked, “C’mon, man, you really think I’d do that? With _David,_ I mean?”

He tossed her another quick, dirty look, not even breaking his combo. “You want me to answer that?” he responded, unimpressed.

 

David leaned gingerly out of the kitchen door, intending to ask Gwen and Max which dressing they’d prefer on the salad, but he paused when he caught sight of them playing together. They usually played video games when he wasn’t around, because he had a tendency to hover and fret about the level of violence involved, but he couldn’t even see the TV from his angle. All he could see was the two of them sitting at the end of the bed – rarely ever put back into couch form these days – nudging each other and throwing themselves around in response to the game. He loved seeing them get along, and stopped for a minute just to watch, smiling.

“Aw, don’t be _rude_ ,” Gwen was saying. “Come on, man.”

“Rude is what I do,” Max defended himself.

“ _Ma-ax!_ ” she admonished. “It’s not that hard! And it would mean the world to him.”

David’s smile softened a little as he listened to the banter. He didn’t know what they were talking about at this point, but he liked this dynamic between them – the bickering and teasing without any actual bad blood. He knew it was their version of getting along. They were two of the most important people in his world, and he liked it when they liked each other.

“If I make this shot, will you do it?” Gwen asked.

“Are you fucking high? That’s impossible,” he responded. “Shit, fine. But if you miss, you have to stop bugging me.”

“Deal,” she answered, grinning. David watched as she bit her tongue in concentration, her fingers carefully manipulating controls to accomplish some goal he couldn’t see. He loved that side of Gwen – the invested, serious, all-in Gwen. She was so often tired and dispassionate, or alternately strung-out and anxious; he adored when she cared about things, even silly things.

She hit a button on her controller. David couldn’t see Max very well past her, but he could imagine the boy’s expression when she let out a triumphant yell and he squawked “What the _fuck? How?!_ ”

“In your _face!_ ” she answered, jumping up and pointing a finger straight at Max, leaning in until she jabbed him in the nose. David bit down on a smile watching her little victory dance; it was undeniably adorable. He liked the way her ponytail bobbed, the way she swung her hips and pumped her fists in the air. “Now you have to do it!”

“Ugh, fine!” Max threw his arms up in defeat and let himself fall backwards on the mattress. “I’ll apologize.” Then, more loudly, “Sorry I was an asshole today, David, I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”

“You hear that, David?” Gwen called, and David, taken by surprise, was very glad she didn’t look over and notice he was already watching them.

“U-um, yes!” he responded, stepping out of the kitchen and towards the living room. “It’s okay, Max, I understand.”

“Oh, come _on,_ ” Gwen answered, rolling her eyes and reaching for his hand, pulling him into her victory dance. “You’re not going to enjoy it a _little_ more? Max _never_ apologizes, least of all to you! I worked hard for that sorry!”

David laughed and let her spin him around, his apron flapping. “You’re in a good mood all of a sudden,” he noted, enjoying the way she held onto his hand.

“My cramps lightened up and I beat an eleven-year-old boy at a game I haven’t played in years,” she told him, smiling. “Plus, I got an apology out of Max, which makes this a rare day. I’ll have to mark it on my calendar.” Bumping his hip playfully with her own, she caught Max’s glare and laughed. “Don’t worry, it’ll wear off before long.”

“It better,” Max muttered. “This Gwen is weird.”

She stuck her tongue out. “You just like to see me miserable,” she retorted playfully.

David’s smile was massive. “Well, I _like_ good-mood Gwen,” he said, cheeks a little flushed. He wasn’t used to seeing her like this – not that he never had, but it was pretty unusual. It made him want to turn the radio on and see if he could entice her into one of the impromptu dancing-and-singing-into-hairbrushes sessions that occurred once in a blue moon in their cabin at Camp Campbell, but the oven timer beeped before he had a chance to pursue the thought any further. “I should get that,” he said, a bit reluctantly. “What do you two want on your salad?”

“You’re such a housewife, David,” she complained, pouting sarcastically and then letting him go. “Do we have any more of that raspberry vinaigrette?”

“We do!” he answered. “Also, I’m the one with the full-time job, you realize.”

“Ugh. Stop bragging,” she called back as he returned to the kitchen. Then she danced her way around his bed and grabbed Max’s wrists, hauling the still-prone child up onto his feet. “C’mon. Time to wash hands for dinner.”

“Augh! Get off me! Jesus!” He wiggled in her grasp, pulling faces, but her grip was stronger than he’d been betting on. She danced him all the way to the bathroom, and he complained the whole way there. David listened with a smile on his face as he pulled his roast out of the oven.


	7. A Lot of Places are Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neil and Nikki are visiting for the long weekend and Max is the happiest he's been in weeks. David is happy that Max is happy, and that Gwen is thinking of the future, and that this place has become home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the slightly longer wait between chapters - August has tuned out to be a VERY busy month, so it might turn out like that for the next few updates. Thanks for your patience!
> 
> In the meantime, I hope you are ready for FOUR CHAPTERS OF LONG WEEKEND WITH NEIL AND NIKKI. It's been so fun to write these two into the story. I think everyone's going to enjoy this little arc!
> 
> Also - remember in chapter one when I arbitrarily decided to headcanon that David's from my city? At some point I realized he's the kind of person who'd probably be really sentimental about home as a concept, and here he waxed a little poetic about it... which was actually just me turning into the #HamOnt tourism board for 200 words. Forgive me. Everything he says is true though! I love Hamilton... even if I'm still peeved that it amalgamated my whole county and has no idea how to run it, lmao.
> 
> Okay okay I think that's everything - hope you enjoy! Love you!

“It’s eight pm already!” Max moaned, sliding down on the train station bench and staring in frustration at the time on his iPod. “When will they get here?”

“Soon, I’m sure,” Gwen told him, licking her thumb and turning a page in her book. “It’s a long ride, Max.”

“This sucks,” he complained. “I hate waiting.”

“I know,” she answered, barely listening.

David returned from the washroom and joined them on the bench. “I asked at the help desk,” he told Max. “The lady said the train hit a few delays coming through Connecticut. Another fifteen to twenty minutes, probably.”

Max groaned loudly, dragging his hands down his face and letting himself slip off the bench onto the concrete floor. A man waiting nearby glanced over and chuckled at his dramatics.

The rest of their wait consisted mostly of David reading over Gwen’s shoulder and Max moaning on the floor. “Oh my,” David mumbled at one point. “That’s… risqué.”

“That’s the idea, David,” Gwen murmured back. “You don’t have to read if you don’t want to.”

“No no, it’s fine,” he answered, face slightly red but eyes curious.

Max, watching them from his spot on the floor, groaned again and rolled over to stare down the track. Then a light and a distant rumble betrayed the approach of a train. Pushing himself up on his arms, he exclaimed, “Is that them?!”

“It should be!” David responded, leaning forward to look. Gwen tucked a bookmark into place as Max scrambled to his feet and jumped forward; she just barely managed to snag his hood in time to stop him from crossing the safety line.

“Cool your jets, kid,” she reminded him. “Do you know how much trouble we’d be in if you got run over by a train?”

Max bounced in place as the train pulled in and came to a stop with agonizing slowness. The doors opened and passengers spilled forth from every car. The three of them craned their necks looking for their visitors, but there were too many people.

“Hey, Max,” David said suddenly. Before Max knew what was happening, David’s hands were on his middle, and he shouted as the redhead scooped him up into the air and then onto his shoulders. “Can you spot them from up there?”

Max fisted his hands in David’s hair, alarmed. He knew from experience that David was more than strong enough to carry him around, but still, it was a pretty startling height. “Ah! Um!” the boy shouted. David grunted, and Max loosened his grip a little, looking around with wide eyes. “Just a second…”

“Enjoy it while you can, kid,” Gwen told him. “It’s the tallest you’ll ever be in your life. By like, a couple feet at least.”

Max tossed her a dirty look and then resumed his search, stomach flipping with anxiety. Where _were_ they? But then, finally, in the distance, a telltale mop of green hair. “There they are!” he shouted, pointing. Cupping his hands around his mouth, he called out, “ _Hey, Nik! Neil!_ ” Nikki looked up and waved excitedly, and beside her Neil grinned.

“Okay. I think I oughtta let you down,” David said, reaching up and pulling Max off his shoulders. “Let’s go find ‘em.”

“Oh shit,” Gwen added as Max took off, weaving through the crowd. Scrambling to catch up with him, she managed to seize his hood again, and somewhere behind her David grabbed her wrist. “Slow down, kid!” Gwen squawked.

He wasn’t really listening; the only thing that kept him from running full speed was the threat of being choked by the collar of his sweatshirt if she didn’t let go. He ducked between people’s legs, finally spotting Nikki’s hair again and making a beeline straight for her.

“You’re here!” he cried, throwing his arms around Neil and Nikki’s necks and ignoring David and Gwen panting behind him. “Neil, how are you even fucking taller? It’s been like two months!”

Neil grinned awkwardly. “Growth spurt, I guess,” he answered.

“I think if I stand on your shoulders I could be face-to-face with him,” Nikki said to Max. “We should try it later.”

Max was bouncing again. “God, it took fucking _forever_ for this train to get here! I thought you’d never make it!”

“Yeah, we ran into some freight trains halfway through the ride and had to let them through,” Neil explained. “We sat still for almost half an hour. I thought Nikki was going to lose her mind.”

“Trains are so _boring_ , Max,” she whined. “I mean, there’s a lot to see out the window, but you’re supposed to sit still the whole time and it _sucks_.”

David came up behind Max, setting a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Have you guys eaten?” he asked. “We actually haven’t had supper yet, it’s been a busy evening…”

“Hi David!” Nikki greeted happily. “We had sandwiches a few hours ago but I’m kinda hungry.”

“I’m _starving_ ,” Neil admitted, putting a hand to his stomach. “Hi, David. Gwen.”

Gwen, coming up next to David, gave the kids a little wave. “That’s what happens with growth spurts, man.”

“Can we get pizza?” Max asked, looking up at David and Gwen. “At the place with the weird paintings on the wall?”

“Yeah, that should be doable,” David agreed, nodding. “But you have to be nicer to the waitstaff this time.”

Max rolled his eyes, looking back at his friends. “The waitress treated me like a fucking baby last time. Do I _look_ like I want a kids’ menu and crayons?”

Neil and Nikki exchanged glances. “I’d take a kids’ menu and crayons,” she said with a grin, and he nodded his agreement.

Gwen tried to contain her laughter. “Okay, okay. Let’s get you guys out of here.”

The five of them navigated from the platform back out to the parking lot, Neil and Nikki hauling wheeled luggage behind them. The bags just barely fit into the trunk of David’s car. The three kids piled into the back seat, Max in the middle.

 

Gwen was already developing a mild headache by the time they got home to the apartment at almost ten. She and David hauled Neil’s and Nikki’s luggage up the stairs while the kids charged ahead, Max holding David’s key and excitedly telling the other two about his plans for the weekend.

“It’s so good to see him that happy,” David said, glancing at Gwen with a smile.

“Yeah… I guess you’re right,” she had to admit, watching as Nikki raced to the top of the second flight of stairs just to prove she could beat the boys. “He’s been stressed. I hope this burns some of that off, even if we suffer for it.” She’d been tempted to tease Max for being so uncharacteristically energetic, but at the same time, it was the best mood she’d seen him in since he’d arrived.

“It’s only one weekend, Gwen,” David pointed out. “Surely we can manage that. We deal with them all summer long, after all.”

“I just hope they don’t destroy our apartment.”

“Hey!” he remarked, lighting up and poking her in the side. “That’s the first time you’ve called it ‘ _our_ ’ apartment, and not just yours!”

She did her best to laugh it off. “It’s been a month. You’ve filled it with your shit, and you paid half the rent. Only seems fair.” She shrugged, looking away.

“Still, it’s nice,” he responded as they reached the top. “I’m glad you’re adjusting. I was afraid that Max and I would disrupt your lifestyle a lot, but you’ve adapted so well.”

“Not much choice,” Gwen answered, shrugging a second time. Trying the front door, she was relieved to discover that Max, in his excitement at finally having his friends over, hadn’t thought to try locking her and David out. She had her key, but it would have taken a lot of digging in her bag to find it.

Neil and Nikki were standing with Max in the living room, taking in the space. “So cozy,” Nikki was commenting with a laugh. “It almost looks like the counsellors’ cabin.”

“Well, that’s what happens when David and I share a small space, I guess,” Gwen commented, leaving Neil’s bag next to Max’s bedroom door. “It makes sense, doesn’t it?”

Neil was peering at the throw pillows on the corner of the couch-bed mattress. “Pretty obvious whose are whose,” he observed, holding up one that was made out of an old Camp Campbell t-shirt and another adorned with a butt, lovingly embroidered by a friend of Gwen’s back in college.

“Sure, but I like it!” David responded cheerfully. “Each unique personality is well-represented. Even Max has managed to add a little of his own flair, though mostly to his room. We can all get along and _share_ our home!”

Neil looked down at the pillows again. “No one in _my_ house gets along this well,” he muttered, and Gwen and David shared uncomfortable grins.

“Ooookay!” Gwen said loudly, eager to change the topic. “Why don’t we get you two set up in Max’s room, and then you can just go straight to bed whenever you get tired!” She hoped desperately that that would be sooner than later. She ushered them into the bedroom, encouraging them to unpack their sleeping bags and pillows and get everything arranged on the floor. Once they were rolling, she stepped out of the room and tossed David an already-haggard grin. “This is going to be a long few days.”

“But fun!” he answered.

The three children emerged a few minutes later, in their pyjamas but showing no signs of fatigue. “Hey, Gwen!” Nikki called, tugging on the leg of Gwen’s jeans as the boys headed for the TV. Gwen looked down, eyebrows raised. “I was wondering, does this mean you and David are going to get married now?”

“ _What?_ ” Gwen squawked. “What the hell makes you say _that?_ ” She looked up across the living room, where David was looking over with an expression of embarrassment, and Max with one of deep horror.

“Well, I was just thinking, you’re Max’s parents now, and parents are _usually_ married… at least to start out with.” Nikki shrugged. The smile on her face suggested no malice; it was, as far as she was concerned, a perfectly genuine question. “Plus, you live together now, and this old lady who lives on my street told me once you’re supposed to marry someone if you move in with them. Although…” She frowned thoughtfully. “She also told me that my dad was going to hell and that the world was ending soon, so who knows. Maybe she’s just crazy.”

Gwen blinked hard, trying to push that last part away for a minute, and stepped further into the living room. Nikki followed her to the corner by the bookshelf, where Gwen sat down in her chair and Nikki hopped into David’s. “We’re not Max’s parents, Nikki,” she started.

“ _Fuck_ no,” Max interrupted, frowning deeply. “Jesus. That would be even worse than this.”

“We’re his foster parents,” David continued, perching on the corner of his mattress closest to the chairs. “His legal guardians, for the time being.”

“And we’re _not_ getting married,” Gwen said pointedly. “I’m… we’re not romantically involved in the slightest, and besides, I have – I have certain moral objections to the entire institution of marriage.” She glanced up at David, seeking more support, but for some reason she felt weird and awkward when she met his eyes.

He smiled uncomfortably, face red, and added, “Marriage is a very big commitment, and not one that either of us would be up to making right now, even without the rest of those factors. It’s not something people do just because.”

“Oh, okay,” Nikki said, nodding. She seemed to accept that answer pretty easily. “That makes sense. I was just curious.” Sliding off of David’s chair, she went to join Neil and Max on the floor, in front of the cardboard box that Gwen kept her video games in. “Hey, what are you guys doing?”

Gwen ran a hand back through her bangs and let out a long breath as the kids got quickly distracted. After a moment she glanced up at David, who was still watching her curiously. She held one hand by her mouth and pointed at the back door, mouthing “ _I’m gonna go sit outside,_ ” as if it was some kind of secret from the kids. He nodded. Pulling her thick woolen sweater tighter around her middle, she stood up and picked her way around David’s bed towards the door. “Max, if you even _touch_ my save file on Zombie Warlords 2, I’ll kick your ass. Other than that, knock yourself out.” Then she slid the glass door open and stepped outside into the chilly evening.

 

David spent a few minutes checking emails on his phone and fretting over the level of violence in the games the kids were picking out before he happened to glance out the glass doors and notice the way Gwen sat with her arms wrapped tight around herself, shivering slightly. After a moment’s thought, he got up and went to the front hall, slipping on his jacket and finding the oversized bomber that he knew would fit over her sweater. Then he grabbed one of the kitchen chairs and headed out onto the balcony himself.

She glanced up with surprise when he came outside, but smiled when he handed her her coat. “Thanks,” she breathed. “Just needed a minute. Wasn’t quite ready to come inside yet.”

“That’s fine,” he told her, putting the chair in his other hand down next to the single wicker chair she kept out on the balcony. “Nikki really threw you off there, didn’t she?”

“Just a little,” she answered sarcastically. “Yikes.”

“It reminded me of something I thought of the other day at work, though,” he started, sounding a little like he didn’t want to bring it up. “I was just talking to a coworker about our situation, you know, like you do when just making conversation, and she… did assume we were together. Said something about ‘you and your wife.’” He used finger quotes. “And I realized that we’re, uh… probably going to run into that a lot, all things considered.”

Gwen groaned, putting her face in her hands. “Fuck, you’re right.”

“I just wanted to talk to you about, you know, how we’re going to approach that,” he continued, blushing and looking away, rubbing his neck. “I mean, I don’t want to, I don’t know, accidentally insult you by loudly insisting that no we’re _not_ together.”

She turned to look in his direction, peeking through her fingers, and couldn’t help snorting at his expression. He glanced back up and offered a weak smile. “I guess I appreciate that,” she told him. “Although I wouldn’t have taken it personally, I promise.”

“Okay.” David nodded, watching as she pulled her hands away from her face. A cloud drifted away from the moon and suddenly the moonlight hit her hair in a way that struck him as quite pretty. “I, uh, just thought I should bring it up.”

“Yeah. I’ll give it some thought.” She looked out off the balcony again, scooting her chair a few inches forward so she could cross her arms on the railing and lean her chin on top of them.

He followed her gaze, out into the city beyond. There was a little parking lot right behind their building – he could see his car down below – and then across the tiny one-way street beyond that, a row of crappy duplexes. Past those, small businesses, most with apartments above them. There were lights on everywhere, traffic sounds quite audible from the roads. “I kind of like this view,” he commented idly.

“Really?” she asked, surprised. “I would’ve thought you’d hate it. Not a good-sized tree in sight.”

He laughed softly. “Yeah, I know. I do miss the trees. There are a lot of them even in the city I come from. But… New York has its own kind of beauty to it. Very different, but still there.”

“I… really don’t know much about where you come from,” she said slowly. “I mean, you’ve talked about home here and there, but not very often.”

“A lot of places are home,” he said with a little smile. “Camp Campbell. My favourite campgrounds at Banff and Algonquin. My great-uncle’s cottage in Muskoka. This apartment. But Hamilton is where my roots are.”

“Jesus, David, stop being so poetic,” she told him off, but not without amusement. “I only asked about your hometown.”

He laughed again. “It’s a steel town. Or was, for a long time. There’s still a lot of steel, but not as much, and they’re trying to rebrand, away from the industrial and more towards the arts and nature. There are art crawls every month, and a huge all-weekend Supercrawl every September. Plus there are so many parks and conservations in and around the city, and the escarpment is beautiful… and it’s the waterfall capital of the world.”

“Waterfall capital?” She arched an eyebrow.

“There are over a hundred.”

“God. No wonder you are the way you are.” He could only smile at that, glancing down into his lap. She shifted in her chair. “But… it does sound like a really nice place. Maybe we should go visit someday.”

David looked at her in surprise, and by the expression on her face, she had surprised herself, too. But the idea was so exciting it made his stomach flutter, and he latched onto it before she could take it back. “That – that would be amazing! My mom’s house has lots of room for guests, she’d love to have us stay. We could go hiking and art crawling and fishing and I could show you the view from the mountain brow and we could go see my Granny’s place and…”

“Relax, buddy,” Gwen said, looking over at him with an awkward smile. “We don’t even know if or when we’d ever be able to take Max across the border. It was just, y’know, a passing thought.” She coughed and looked back away.

“Yeah, I– I know. I just really… really like the idea.” He fidgeted with the bottom hem of his denim jacket, thinking. Everything about the way they were living now felt so uncertain. “I just, um… you know, we live kind of… day-by-day, right now. We don’t talk much more than a few weeks into the future most of the time, because everything about our situation is still so new and unexpected and thinking forward is so strange… But it just sounded, for a minute there, like you were thinking longer-term. Like this isn’t just temporary. It’s how we’re really living and we’re adapting our life plans to adjust for that.”

Gwen gave a long sigh. “I don’t know.” David watched her in the dim light, waiting for her to continue the thought. She stared out into the city, looking stressed and unsure. “Most of the time I’m still confused and frustrated and freaked way the fuck out over this whole thing. But you can’t… stay that way forever. Not completely. So sometimes I start to feel like I’m adjusting and this is how things are now.” She drummed her fingers on the railing. “Max’ll need guardians for another seven years, at least legally speaking. Maybe as little as five, if he decides to strike out on his own, but really, what are the chances he could _afford_ that? So, y’know, if by some miracle we manage to do everything right and he’s allowed to stay with us, this is life until we’re in our thirties. That’s a lot to swallow, given that a month and a half ago my most pressing concern was finding a new roommate. Thinking that far ahead, with all these new responsibilities, is… difficult.”

“Yeah. I know. I feel the same.” David paused, considering it all. “But I try not to think of it that way. I try to think about how things are now… I’m pretty happy, being here with you and Max. I like my new job. And we’re making such a big difference in Max’s life. This is important, and right now we’re not doing such a bad job, I don’t think. I like how things are.”

She shook her head, smiling. “I don’t know how you do it,” she told him. “But I’m glad one of us can.” Pulling her hands into her sleeves, she turned and leaned over to look through the glass doors into the living room. “We should probably chase them to bed.”

“Hm?” He had gotten lost in thought, watching her expressions change, watching the way she moved and the way the light caught her skin. Thinking, vaguely, about seven more years of this, here, with her. There were worse directions for life to take. “Oh! Yes. We probably should.” He jumped to his feet, picking up the chair and pulling it back inside. Gwen came in behind him.

“Hate to break up the fun, guys,” she said as he lifted his chair over their heads and carried it back to the kitchen. “But it’s late and you should all get some sleep…”

“Boo!” Nikki cried. “C’mon, Gwen, we only just barely got here!”

“Oh, don’t start with me,” she answered, rolling her eyes. “We all know you guys are going to be awake talking for a minimum of two hours after the light’s out anyways.”

“C’mon, campers, it’s bedtime!” David said cheerfully as he re-entered the living room. “You need some rest so that we can have a full day of fun tomorrow!”

“Oh, god,” Max muttered. “There are so many of us here that he overloaded and went into full-on camp mode.”

David rested his fists on his hips, grinning. “The longer you stay up the more activities I plan for the weekend,” he announced.

“Oh, fuck no,” Max responded. “Jesus, fine, just let me save.” He found a save point and turned off Gwen’s PlayStation, and then the three of them scrambled for the bedroom.

“Don’t forget to brush your teeth!” Gwen shouted after them. Then she tossed David a grin. “Nice strategy.”

“I saw an opportunity and took advantage,” he answered, pleased with himself.

“You did good.” Slipping her coat off and tossing it on his bed for a moment, she stretched and yawned lazily. “Hopefully they’ll at least keep it down tonight. I wouldn’t mind an hour or two to unwind _without_ all three of them in my hair before I hit the hay myself.”

He watched her for a minute as she scooped her jacket back up and headed for the front hall to put it away. “Hey Gwen,” he said suddenly, impulsively. She glanced up as she kicked her shoes off, and he hesitated. He wasn’t sure what came next; he just realized he didn’t want her to slip into her bedroom and disappear for the evening just yet. “Do you, uh… you wanna watch something?”

She smiled and shrugged. “You have something in mind?”

“Not really,” he confessed. “I just, um, thought it was an opportunity? Since we so rarely have time to watch things without Max. Just, you know, one less person to factor into the decision-making.” He rubbed the back of his neck. He was rambling and he knew it. He should think further ahead. “I don’t know.”

“Nah, I’m up for that,” Gwen agreed with a nod. “Hell, it’s October and I haven’t had much time to get into the Halloween movies yet. This is about the hour the really good shit comes on. You into horror?” She grinned.

“N-not usually, but I’m willing to give it a try,” he answered with an awkward laugh.

“Cool. You make the popcorn and I’ll check out what’s on?” She started to head back for the living room, watching his face.

“Sure.” He nodded.


	8. King of the Apartment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chicken fights to establish who rules the apartment, stuffed animals, weekend plans, and Hallowe'en movies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PSA: I WILL BE CAMPING FOR THE NEXT FEW DAYS! I can probably reply to comments/messages in the next ~12 hours, but then I'll be away from my computer until Friday afternoon. I have some data but between a shoddy signal in the woods and lots of fun with my friends I don't know how often I'll check on AO3. But, I look forward to reading your comments when I get back!
> 
> I have commentary about the chapter but it's spoilery so I'll put it in the end notes, even though I don't usually like end notes.
> 
> Enjoy the chapter! Love you!

When Gwen got up in the morning and finally found the courage to leave her bedroom, she was unsurprised to find that she was the last one up, but grateful to discover that David had already fed all three of the kids. Her usual Saturday-morning café de olla was already almost finished when she stepped into the kitchen, and she accepted it from a smiling David with a relieved sigh. He waved her into her seat at the table, turning back to the stove where he was making another batch of eggs.

“Have I ever told you you’re kind of a hero?” she asked, eyes closed as she sipped at her coffee. “I’ve never liked living with morning people before, but you… you’re a pretty good one.”

“You must be _very_ tired,” he teased. She opened her eyes to peer at him for a moment, amused to see that while he was trying to play it cool, he was biting down on a huge smile at her compliment. “You’re rarely so forwardly nice to me.”

“Well, you fed the kids, made my fancy coffee, and here you are serving me breakfast. I think I owe you a little kindness, at very least.” He laughed as he put a plate of eggs and sausage down in front of her. She smiled for a moment, and then her eyes snapped wide open. “Oh, sweet mother of god, I sounded _exactly_ like my mother just now.” She sounded like her mom hinting to her dad that he was going to get some after he’d been helpful, specifically, but she didn’t think that part was important to add to David. “Jesus Christ. Next time I start to talk like that, please, slap me.”

“I’d rather not,” he answered, sitting down next to her with his own coffee.

“Really. It would be in both of our best interests.” She shook her head at herself, starting in on her breakfast. “When did the monsters get up?” she asked, jabbing a thumb in the direction of the living room, where all three of them were already on her PlayStation again.

“An hour and a half ago, maybe?” David answered, glancing at his watch. “A little earlier than I might have liked, but it could’ve been worse. They probably did stay up talking pretty late.”

“Did you not sleep well?” she asked. “Normally you would have been more than fine getting up at that hour.”

He grinned sheepishly. “Well… after that movie last night…”

“What, really?” she asked, delighted. “Come on, you’re not _that_ big a baby, are you?” He had hidden under the blanket a few times, and even dived into her side after one of the worse jump scares, not calming down until Gwen, suppressing her laughter, scooped an arm around his back and patted his head fondly. He had stayed there for almost the rest of the movie. But she had thought, after it was over and the story was resolved, he’d seemed fairly calm – maybe he’d gotten scared again once he was alone.

“Don’t be mean!” he whined, though he had enough of a sense of humour to laugh at himself. “I’m not used to horror movies!”

“Poor muffin,” she laughed, reaching up to ruffle his unstyled hair. “You know, I had to quit martial arts a year into college because of time and money constraints, but I’m sure I could still kick an ass if I had to. So don’t worry, I’ll keep you safe.”

“You used to take martial arts?” David asked curiously. “How come I never knew that?”

“Yeah, I actually think my black belt was half of what landed me the job at Camp Campbell,” she told him. “Campbell told me he’d always wanted to add karate camp to the roster. Lucky for me, no one’s ever signed up for it.”

“That’s amazing!” he gushed. “I wish I had known! We should add that to the activities list for next year!”

Gwen rolled her eyes. “I just can’t keep my stupid mouth shut…”

 

“David!” Nikki shouted, jumping to her feet and looking up at him like she’d just had a life-changing revelation. “Lift me up on your shoulders so I can be taller than Neil!”

“Well, okay,” David answered, nodding like that was a perfectly reasonable request, and Gwen stifled a laugh at how cooperative he was. David put his phone down on the seat of his chair as he got up, scooping Nikki up easily and resting her on his shoulders.

“Woo!” she cheered. “I’m king of the world!”

“Okay, well, I don’t know about _that_ ,” Neil responded, giving her a skeptical look. “Maybe of the _apartment_ …”

“No fair!” Max complained. “If anyone should be king of the apartment, it’s me! I’m the one who fucking lives here!”

Gwen bit her tongue for a moment, thinking, then decided to just roll with it. “All right, well, let’s see,” she suggested, getting to her feet. She put her arms around Max’s tiny waist and lifted him with a grunt, settling him into place on her own shoulders. He let out a little shout of surprise and wrapped his arms around her head. For a moment she silently thanked her father for the football-player shoulders that ran in the family and her college friend Kendra for reminding her to work out once in a while, and then she straightened up and turned to face David and Nikki. “How do we compare now?”

“It’s pretty close,” Max answered, loosening his grip on her head as he found his balance. “But I’m not sure.”

“Neil! Can you tell?” Nikki asked, looking down at him.

“Uhh… can you stand closer together?” he asked. David stepped forward obligingly, until he and Gwen were barely a foot apart. Neil made a face as he strained to see, climbing up onto Gwen’s chair for a better look. “It’s almost exactly the same,” he reported finally. “Max’s hair doesn’t make it any easier.”

Nikki reached out and gave Max a playful shove, just enough to feel without risking knocking him over. (Gwen couldn’t help thinking that maybe the girl was starting to mature, just the tiniest bit. Not long ago she would have been rougher.) “Your hair’s cheating! I’m the king!”

“No way!” he answered, pushing her back. “My apartment, my kingdom!”

“Chicken fight!” Nikki shouted, pushing him again. “Winner takes all!”

“You’re on!” Max answered, locking his elbows and preparing to go.

“Oh, I don’t know–” David started to say worriedly, but Gwen interrupted him.

“Neil, move the table. You two are going _down._ ” She gave David a wicked grin, feeling a little competitive, and he could only smile back, half-nervous and half-amused.

Neil jumped down and hurried to push the coffee table against the balcony door, freeing up the space in the middle of the room. David had pushed the bed back into the couch for the day so that the kids would have room to play, and it was a good thing. Max and Nikki had their hands locked together, laughing and pushing, with David and Gwen shifting underneath to try to keep the kids balanced and upright. Neil scrambled back onto Gwen’s chair, looking concerned.

Gwen bit her tongue with the effort of the battle, peering up through her bangs at what she could see of the kids – mostly just arms. Still grinning, she glanced down at David’s face briefly, then found her gaze catching on the view. Immediately in front of her, David was laughing now, brows lowered; his competitive side had finally won out over the cautious. His lower lip was caught in his teeth, red from the pressure, and his face just slightly flushed between the laughter and the exertion. She was close enough to count his freckles if she wanted to. And for a fraction of a second she almost _did_ want to.

“Shit! Gwen!” Max squawked as he started to wobble, and she blinked, shifting back under his centre of gravity and bracing her feet. “Careful!”

“Sorry bud!” she answered, looking up again. “Come on, what’s taking so long, anyway? You’ve fucking _got_ this!”

“I dunno, Gwen,” David teased. “I’ve got pretty good balance, and Nikki has a leg-grip like a vise!”

“Oh, you wanna go, beanpole?” she laughed. “I’m ready to be a more active participant in this fight!”

“I’ve almost got ‘im, David!” Nikki cheered. “I will reign supreme!”

“Just say the word, Max,” Gwen continued. “I know his Achilles’ heel!”

“And I know Nikki’s!” he answered, and she could _hear_ that maniacal grin on his face. “Okay, you guys wanna play dirty? Three… two… one… now!”

Max disentangled one hand from Nikki’s and darted it forward to the ticklish spot under her chin, and she wiggled dramatically trying to escape him; at the same moment, Gwen managed to poke David just under the bellybutton, and his knees buckled. He stumbled backward for a moment, just barely managing to pull Nikki off his shoulders in time to stop himself from losing balance and crashing to the ground.

“Victory!” Max shouted at the top of his lungs. “The apartment is mine to rule!”

“Don’t forget about the courage and dedication of your valiant knight,” Gwen reminded him, bouncing him on her shoulders. She was still grinning at David, who had begun to laugh as he put Nikki down.

“Of course not,” Max said magnanimously. “You’ll have a position of honour in my court.” Then, leaning down over her head as if he’d manage a good look at her face, he asked, “How the fuck did you know David had a weak spot on his _stomach?_ ”

“You remember that batshit crazy raccoon that attacked him a couple summers ago?” she asked, crossing the room and crouching in front of the couch so he could climb down from her shoulders. “I had to dress all those bite wounds for like a month afterwards. I found the spot on his stomach by accident. His legs go jelly with one jab.”

“It’s true,” David admitted sheepishly. “I can’t explain it. It’s just some kind of instinctive response.”

“Weirdo,” Max scoffed. Then he looked over at Nikki. “I was thinking of banishing you to the dungeons, but you could maybe redeem yourself if you’ll perform an impossible task.”

“What is it?” she asked eagerly, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

He pointed to Neil. “You’ll have to train my wussiest knight not to be such a _goddamn baby!_ ”

Neil, still folded up in Gwen’s chair, took offense to that. “Hey! There’s something to be said for a sense of self-preservation, I think!”

But Nikki had already bounded across the living room and climbed on top of him, grabbing him by the front of the shirt. “Come on, wussy knight! We have dragons to slay!”

Gwen was laughing as she crossed the carpet to stand next to David. Still catching her breath from the battle, she said quietly to him, “We’re going to have to find something to do tomorrow to burn off some of this energy.”

“Yeah,” he agreed, smiling. “Actually, I had an idea about that…”

 

Gwen was sitting on the kitchen floor, digging in the far back reaches of the corner cupboard. If David was serious about wanting to take the kids way out of the city tomorrow, they’d want to pack things like snacks and water bottles – and she knew she had some spare bottles somewhere in the depths of the cupboard. Given that it was such an awkward spot to get into, she used it as a dumping ground for the least-used objects in her kitchen.

Her hand landed on something soft and unfamiliar, and she frowned. “What the hell…” A little wary about pulling something out that she couldn’t identify by touch, she shone the light of her phone into the cupboard. Was that…? Grabbing it again and bringing it into the light of the kitchen, she recognized the battered body of Mr. Honeynuts. She pursed her lips, thinking for a moment.

Then she opened her messaging app and texted David, _Can you distract Neil and Nikki for a sec and send Max in here?_

A moment later she heard David’s voice in the living room: “Hey, have you guys seen the view from the balcony yet? It’s a great spot for I Spy. C’mere.” The door slid open and shut again, and then Max appeared at the kitchen door.

“Am I in trouble?” he asked, frowning.

She looked up at him, shook her head, and held up the bear.

“…Oh,” he said quietly, looking away.

“Come over here for a sec,” she said, beckoning to him.

Max nodded and made his way slowly across the kitchen. She patted the floor in front of her, and he sat down; she handed him the bear and he hugged it protectively. He wasn’t meeting her eye.

“Why was Mr. Honeynuts in the cupboard, Max?” Gwen asked, more confused than anything else. “I mean… I didn’t even know he was in the apartment.”

“I’ve been keeping him hidden,” he mumbled, looking at the floor. “I didn’t want you to make fun of him again.” There was a pause. “But, um, I didn’t want Neil and Nikki to find him in my room, so…”

“Right.” Gwen leaned back against the cupboard door behind her, feeling guilty. “I mean… I can understand that.”

“Are you gonna tell the others?” he asked, squeezing the bear tighter.

“No, man,” she answered, as if that was obvious – but of course, it wasn’t. “I’m… Shit, buddy. I’m sorry about that thing at the camp a couple years ago. I was… I was really pissed at you that day, but I guess that’s no excuse for humiliating you, huh.” It wasn’t really a question. “You didn’t deserve that. I was an asshole.”

He hesitated, then nodded again.

They sat in silence for a minute, Gwen wondering what she could say, and then a thought occurred to her. She got to her feet, holding up one finger as Max afforded her a curious glance, and then she slipped out of the kitchen and crossed the hall to her bedroom. Digging under one edge of her bed for a minute or two, she found what she was looking for and then hurried back to the kitchen.

She sat back down and lined up three dusty stuffed animals in front of her crossed legs: a fuzzy rabbit in faded Easter pastels, an old teddy bear in a colourful Mexican poncho, and a slightly squished-looking leopard with vivid blue button eyes.

Max stared at them, then raised a questioning gaze to Gwen’s face.

“These guys have been with me a long time,” she explained with a shrug. “I managed to let go of a lot of childhood toys over the years, but not them.” Picking up the bear and straightening his poncho, she said, “Eduardo was my hospital bear. The poncho was a gift from my Uncle Alejandro. I always thought it suited him pretty well.”

“Hospital bear?” Max asked softly.

“Yeah,” she said, holding Eduardo out for Max to see better. “You know, how sometimes when babies are born the hospital gives them a bear?” He shook his head, and she shrugged. “I dunno how common it is, actually. Me and all my siblings had them, though.” She put Eduardo down and turned to the leopard. “Chiquito came from my favourite cousin. For one of my birthdays, I think? I’m not sure. It’s been a long time.”

“And that one?” Max asked, pointing to the rabbit.

“Honestly?” Gwen said. “She was a pharmacy promotion on Easter weekend. I happened to be there with my mom and they were giving out Easter stuffed animals to kids for free.” She smoothed the rabbit’s long ears back. “I don’t know why, but at the time I made up this whole backstory and personality for her. Her name is Hannah, and she’s a tough girl and an ace pilot. She’d fly circles around the boys…” Gwen spent a second remembering. “A lot of stuffed animals I managed to get rid of as I got older, when I forgot the names or the stories that belonged to them. But Hannah’s story never went away, so… neither did she.”

Max was quiet for a few moments. “I didn’t know you still had stuffed animals.”

“Sure,” she said, shrugging one shoulder. “A lot of adults do. Kids are always in such a rush to grow up that they think they have to abandon stuff like teddy bears, but… in the end a lot of us are sentimental enough to hang onto one or two beloved favourites. I bet if you asked David, he’d have one too.”

“But he sleeps in the living room,” Max said, “And I’ve never seen one.”

“You hid Mr. Honeynuts,” she pointed out. “And I hid the three amigos here.”

“Well… I guess.” He held the bear out at arm’s length, smoothing its ears as he thought. “I… I still don’t want Nikki and Neil to see him,” he said slowly.

“That’s fair,” Gwen agreed quietly. She couldn’t really blame him, given what had happened last time.

“But, um…” he didn’t look up at her. “Maybe the cupboard isn’t the best place for him… could he maybe hang out with your guys for the rest of the weekend?”

“Yeah. Sure,” she answered, nodding. “I bet he and Eduardo would get along just fine.”

“I’m– I’m not a kid, Gwen, you don’t have to talk to me like they’re alive,” Max stammered, scowling. She waited a second, and the scowl faded. “But, uh, thanks.” A little reluctantly, he put the bear down next to Gwen’s line of toys on the floor.

“No problem. You can come visit him anytime you need.” She scooped up all of the animals and they both got to their feet. As she headed back to her bedroom, Max made a small noise, and she turned to face him again.

“I, uh… Sorry I was a dick to you that day,” he said in a small voice, looking down at his socks.

She didn’t have to ask what day he meant. “It’s cool. I mean, you were… well, yeah, it wasn’t cool then, but I get why you do the things you do. I appreciate the apology. I’m sorry, too. I should’ve been a grownup about it.”

One corner of his mouth lifted in a smirk. “You’re not really a grownup,” he said, glancing up at her through his hair.

“I know,” she sighed, rolling her eyes and cracking a smile. “On that note, I have had no time yet to get into a Hallowe’en mood, so go poll Neil and Nikki on their favourite Hallowe’en movies so we can have a movie night.”

“Sweet.” He turned and headed for the balcony, and Gwen pushed into her room with an armful of stuffed animals. At first she made to put them back under the side of her bed, but then she glanced around and pushed some junk off the top of her dresser so she could put them there instead.

They deserved to be somewhere visible.

 

Not long after, the five of them had a buffet’s worth of takeout Vietnamese, a box of Hallowe’en candy, and some seasonal favourites queued up on Netflix. The kids sat lined up on the bottom edge of David’s bed, eating off the coffee table in front of them, and Gwen and David sat back against the couch cushions with their own food.

“I don’t recognize any of the movies they picked,” Gwen murmured to David as the first one started. “I feel old.”

“Yeah, it’s a bit weird,” he agreed softly. “Holiday-specific movies always feel so timeless that new ones seem really alien.”

She leaned in closer to hear him over the kids’ movie. “Nikki made out like I was crazy for never having heard of any of these, but really… I mean, I wonder if they’ve heard of any of _our_ classics. I mean… _Hocus Pocus? Beetlejuice?_ Hell, even _It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown?_ ”

“You remember _Halloweentown?_ ” he added, tossing her a grin.

“Shit, yeah!” She nodded. “The best of all! Fuck, if these three haven’t seen those, we’re marathoning them tomorrow night.”

“Deal,” David said around a mouthful of fried rice. “Man, we should line up those other ones for Max the rest of the month, too. There are so many good ones.”

It was like music to Gwen’s ears. She loved Hallowe’en and she _loved_ Hallowe’en movies – both the childhood classics and the more explicit horror she’d enjoyed since her teen years. “That is the best idea you’ve ever had,” she told him, grinning widely.

He grinned back. “Come on, Gwen, surely you could have guessed how much I love holidays?”

“Didn’t think Hallowe’en was much your speed, though,” she admitted.

“I may not be a big horror fan,” he conceded, “but I love the costumes and the candy and all of that. And fall fairs and farm trips are the best! October is an amazing time of year!”

“I haven’t been to very many fairs or farms,” Gwen told him. “Once in a while when I was a kid, but even then, it was a rarity.”

“There are so many near home,” he told her. “I can’t imagine an October without hayrides, pumpkin picking, corn mazes, apple cider…”

“You’re so rural it’s disgusting,” she teased him.

“You’re going to love it tomorrow,” David said, ignoring her jab. “All of you are, I’m sure of it. I’m so excited.”

She shook her head, amused by his enthusiasm. She didn’t mind it, though. It was strange, how different it seemed in this setting than it was at camp. He could still be annoying, but it wasn’t as draining as it used to be for her. Maybe it was because she didn’t feel like he was doing it for work, or because he was planning for only a few people instead of a whole camp full of children, or because it wasn’t every single day, or just because it was directed at something different from the repetitive and poorly-funded camp activities… but she could enjoy his excitement more these days. She didn’t even freak out too much when he’d asked shyly if she’d let him plan the next day’s activities mostly by himself, so that he could surprise her as well as the kids. For a change, she didn’t entirely dread a David surprise. She made him let her in on the major points so she could be prepared and ground him if he got too ambitious, but she actually did think it had the potential to be a fun day.

She poked him in the arm with one chopstick as he started to turn back to the movie. He glanced over again, eyebrows raised. “So,” she said, voice low, “if we’re queueing up our childhood Hallowe’en favourites for Max, you think I could line up a few more of my more recent favourites for you and I after he goes to bed?”

David bit down on an awkward grin, his reluctance clearly half in jest and wholly in earnest. “Well… maybe, if you _promise_ you’ll use that black belt to keep me safe.” He paused. “And check under the bed for me before you go to sleep.”

She snorted around her dumpling. “Okay,” she giggled. “I promise. Dork.” She was trying not to stare at his silly grin, more charming than she remembered it being, and trying even harder not to notice the way he watched her when she laughed, when Max tossed them a dirty look over his shoulder.

“Can you two quit flirting back there?” he complained derisively. “Not only am I trying to watch a movie, but I’m fucking _eating_. Jesus Christ.” He mimed gagging before turning back to his dinner, Neil and Nikki snickering on either side of him.

Gwen leaned away from David a little, looking back down at her food. “Sorry, Max,” she answered quickly, stuffing another bite into her mouth. “But also, fuck off.”

Max casually flipped the bird over his shoulder.

“Be nice, Max,” David reminded him, automatically. Max groaned loudly, and Gwen chuckled to herself. Such a predictable exchange. Glancing sideways at David, she caught him smiling and silently shaking his head. Their eyes met and they both bit down on another laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so - I made up two of Gwen's stuffed animals, but Hannah is real. She was actually a drug store Easter promotion item, and I actually did make up a backstory for her about how she was a cool tough pilot. I still have her! (I still have a LOT of stuffed animals.)
> 
> Also, fun trivia: I just barely managed to remember at the very last second to use the word 'pharmacy' instead of 'drug store' in the story, and only because it was actually JUST this morning over breakfast that some of my friends were talking about how 'drug store' is a Canadian term that no one else understands to mean 'pharmacy.' Apparently my best friend got a super weird look in Ohio once when she asked a stranger where she could find a drug store.
> 
> Okay - see you after my camping trip! Have a good few days while I'm gone everyone. <3


	9. Apple Cider

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David takes everyone out of the city for a day of classic fall farm activities - hayrides, apple and pumpkin picking, corn mazes, and more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY sorry this took so long! Not only is it a pretty long chapter but right after my camping trip (which was wonderful!) and several more busy days, I came down with a nasty headcold that put me right out of commission. I'm mostly recovered by now!
> 
> Fun fact: this chapter is mostly based on my childhood memories of the two local farms that do lots of fall activities. I actually had an interview at one of them on Monday and they want to try me out for a bit! Cross your fingers for me (:
> 
> Enjoy! Next chapter will be faster, I promise!

****

In the back seat of David’s car, Max groaned. “Are you guys ever gonna fuckin’ tell us where we’re _going?_ ” he asked for the fifth time in thirty minutes.

“Sorry, pal,” Gwen laughed from the front. “I would, but David swore me to secrecy.”

“You’re gonna have a great time, I promise!” David said cheerfully, eyes on the road, watching for his turn. He’d had Gwen pull the directions up on her phone to help him navigate.

“Your promises are worthless to me,” Max retorted.

“What a drama queen,” Gwen snorted. “Come on, it’ll be fine. Even _I’m_ feeling more or less optimistic about the day.”

“That is a good sign,” Neil pointed out from his spot on Max’s left. “Gwen doesn’t like almost anything.”

“Except David!” Nikki chipped in from Max’s right. “What? Even if they _aren’t_ dating, it’s obvious they get along pretty well by now,” she added with a shrug, in response to a frown from Max.

Max huffed and crossed his arms grumpily. In truth, he had no reason to be so grouchy – sure, David had ousted everyone from bed early and packed them all into the car right away, but since then things had been pretty good: drive-through doughnuts and coffee for breakfast, his best friends on either side of him, and because Gwen had put herself in charge of the radio, the music was even pretty bearable. But he still didn’t fully trust David’s judgment as far as what made for a good day, so he remained suspicious as long as their destination was a secret… and of course, he had certain appearances to maintain.

“Take a few minutes to admire the fall colours!” David suggested as they made their way out of the city. “There are so many more trees here than back by the apartment, and look how beautiful everything is! I mean, just _look_ at the colour on that witch hazel!”

“The yellow one,” Gwen clarified helpfully, glancing over her shoulder and catching the kids’ puzzled expressions.

“How would you know?” Max asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“Listen, you spend enough time trapped in small spaces with this one, you start to pick things up,” she responded, jabbing a thumb at David.

“I’m glad to hear I’ve taught you something, Gwen!”

Max rolled his eyes and shifted in his seat, turning back to theorizing with Neil and Nikki about where they might be going. Their guesses grew steadily more ridiculous, spanning from agricultural conferences to pine tree museums to Raffi concerts, with more and more pointed jabs at David’s tastes. David, however, only glanced at them in the rear-view mirror, smiling.

“You know what? I would _love_ to go to a Raffi concert. I saw him once as a kid – you know he’s Canadian? He used to tour through our city pretty often.” He chuckled to himself, looking back at the road, as he saw the kids drag their hands down their faces in exasperation. “But actually, you know who I loved even more than Raffi when I was little? Fred Penner. I’ve seen him perform more than once and I’d see him again in a heartbeat. The man’s a staple of Canadian childhood.”

“I hate listening to you speak,” Max groaned loudly, sinking down in his seat. “Gwen, how much longer until we get there? I need to not be stuck in this fucking car with him.”

“Another twenty minutes or so,” she answered. “And sit back up. We get in an accident you’ll break your goddamn neck like that.”

 

“Is this… Is this a fucking farm?” Max asked as they finally pulled into a crowded parking lot. David was humming cheerfully as he searched for a parking spot, finding one between two pickup trucks where they could just barely squeeze in.

“It’s definitely a fam,” Neil confirmed, pointing to a barn in the distance. “What I don’t understand is _why_ we’re at a farm.”

“I don’t know about you guys,” David said, “But pumpkin-picking and all the other fall farm activities were an essential part of autumn when I was a kid! I’m really excited!”

Nikki began to smile. “I _do_ kind of like fall farms. I mean, I’ve only been once, when Dad took me. Is there a corn maze?”

“Corn maze, hay rides, apple cider, the whole bit! I made sure to find a farm that had everything,” David answered, his grin enormous.

“Oh boy,” Max muttered. He was curious, but there was no need to let David know that. “Well, here we go.”

Gwen supplied the kids with water bottles from the trunk, shouldering a little backpack purse as she slammed it shut. “Okay, you lot,” she said, turning to look towards the farm. “This place is full of families, and I don’t want to get chewed out by soccer moms for not keeping three rambunctious, foul-mouthed kids under control, so _please_ be on your best behaviour, okay? I swear it’s in all of our best interests. Soccer moms are the devil incarnate. I’m serious, Max.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Max agreed tiredly. He glanced to either side at his friends, who nodded, and then he looked back up at her. “We’ll be good.”

Gwen sighed and nodded resolutely. “All right. Let’s go have fun and not get trampled. Onward, munchkins.”

David excitedly took the lead, Nikki close at his heels, taking in their surroundings with big, bright eyes. Max and Neil hung back a little more, considerably less enthusiastic, and Gwen took up the rear, trying to keep her eyes on everyone. They came through the entrance in the fence next to the big barn and looked around to get their bearings. Nikki trotted over to a big map posted like a sign, and Max followed her. Seeing the look on her face, he followed her gaze up to the map and then grimaced. The girl turned to David, beaming.

“Petting zoo! David, there’s a _petting zoo!_ ” she said excitedly, eyes growing wide.

“Now, Nikki,” David said quickly. “I’m more than happy to go to the petting zoo, but I want to make sure you know that it’s going to just be _farm_ animals, most likely. Goats and sheep and things – maybe some rabbits, or ponies. Nothing big or exciting or… carnivorous.” Silently, Max thanked god that David had finally learned _something_.

Nikki deflated slightly. “Well, can we still go check?” she asked. “It _might_ still be cool.”

“Of course we can go check,” David agreed, glancing at the others. “What do you say? First stop, petting zoo?” When there were no objections, he nodded and led the way.

“You think there’ll be somewhere to wash our hands after?” Neil asked, slouching to talk in Max’s ear. He slouched a lot, Max had noticed, like he was trying not to look like he was so ridiculously tall. His jeans were noticeably too short, showing off his double-helix-patterned socks.

“I mean, I figure probably,” Max replied with a shrug of one shoulder. “Otherwise the farm is liable for any diseases people catch after touching all their nasty animals, right?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Neil agreed nervously. Max hesitated, then reached up and patted Neil’s shoulder. “Listen, David’s annoying, but he’s not gonna _force_ you to touch anything you don’t wanna,” he pointed out.

“Yeah… I guess.”

The five of them wove their way through the crowds, following a path of signs with paw and hoofprints on them, and finally spotted the petting zoo. “David, what’s that small horse-thing?” Nikki was asking, yanking the sleeve of David’s denim jacket and pointing. Max and Neil looked up at the animal she was pointing at.

“That’s a donkey, Nikki!” David answered, looking a little excited himself. “Oh, and he’s so beautiful! Donkeys are really great, Nikki, you’d love them. They have varying personalities, but my uncle has one at home, and he’s just the sweetest thing. I practically grew up with him. My little cousins used to ride around on his back when they were little girls.”

“Don’t give her ideas, David!” Max shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth.

“O-oh. True, yes. Nikki, please don’t try to ride anything without permission.”

They went through the double gates that led into the petting zoo, and Gwen and David dug in their wallets for quarters so the kids could get feed out of the little machines mounted on the fences. David made sure to give them all a quick lecture on the best way to feed the animals (“hands out flat, fingers together, don’t give them anything to bite off!”) and then let them go. Nikki was the most eager, holding fistfuls of feed pellets out to the first goat that would approach her – a buck that was taller than she was – and laughed as it eagerly nibbled out of her hand. Neil stood back a bit, and for a minute Max stayed with him, but as the animal snuffled in Nikki’s pockets in search of more food and let her pet its head, he stepped forward and ran a hesitant hand over the animal’s vast curled horn.

“Whoa,” he said softly, marveling at the bumpy texture.

“Imagine how much damage he could do with these things!” Nikki said excitedly. “I bet he could knock down these fences if he wanted! We should stage an escape!”

“Slow down, Nik,” Max chuckled. “This place is way too busy, we’d totally get caught.”

“Damn, you’re right.” She shrugged. “Oh well, it’s fun to dream.” She ran her fingers through the coarse hair along the top of the animal’s neck. “So weird. Look how fat he is!”

“He could eat us both,” he answered with a nod. “You know, if he really tried.”

“Don’t even _joke_ about it,” Neil admonished as he edged slowly closer. “I don’t trust that beast at all.”

“Aw, don’t be a baby, Neil,” Nikki told him with a good-natured roll of her eyes. “Look at him, he’s not doing anything wrong.”

“Yeah, actually…” Max glanced around to make sure David was out of earshot. He and Gwen were a few feet away, an eager pair of does eating out of their hands. “…It’s kind of cool. Come on, Neil, it’s no big deal.”

Neil stared suspiciously at the animal for a moment, then reached out and touched its back, which was level with his chin when he stood up a little straighter. His frown relaxed a little. “Okay… yeah… this isn’t so awful, I guess,” he admitted.

Max, one hand still on the buck’s horn, looked down as he felt a nose push against his closed hand. A wobbly young goat, tiny compared to the others, had hobbled over to him and was nosing at the feed Max was still holding. “Uh… here, little guy,” Max said softly, opening his hand flat. The skinny creature ate greedily out of his hand, and Max laughed at the tongue that licked his palm. “Hungry, huh?” He removed his hand from the buck and leaned over to pet the baby. It sniffed at his coat pockets the same way the bigger one had been doing to Nikki. “Hey, guys, check this tiny guy out,” he called.

Neil came around from the buck’s other side and grinned. “Little guys gotta stick together, huh?”

Max tossed him a dirty look. “Get fucked, Neil,” he retorted, Nikki snickering beside him.

 

“Aw, look at that!” David said, nudging Gwen’s side and pointing. “Four charming little kids!”

Gwen, already pulling her phone out to take a photo, gave him an unimpressed look. “Ha-ha,” she said drily to his big grin. “You’re so funny.”

“I like to think so,” he agreed happily. He watched over her shoulder as she took a few shots of the kids visiting with the goats.

“Are we gonna go check out that donkey?” she asked when she was done. “We might have to stop Nikki from climbing it, but you sounded like you were a fan, so…”

“Yes, please!” he responded. “I really do love donkeys! In my experience they’re wonderful animals.”

They rounded up the kids and shepherded them across the enclosure to where the donkey stood by the fence, calmly pulling grass from the ground and munching away. It glanced up as they approached, and David smiled. They were the only ones near it right now, other petting zoo patrons still distracted with the greedy goats.

“It’s bigger than I thought donkeys were,” Max commented.

“Mhm, they’re not small,” David agreed, drawing closer to the animal with one hand held out. The donkey watched him carefully, sniffing the hand that was held out to it and letting him run his palm up the arch of its nose, along its forehead, and into its mane. Beaming, he pulled closer and scratched behind the animal’s ears. It closed its eyes, apparently enjoying the attention. “Gosh, isn’t he just gorgeous?” he asked, glancing over at Gwen.

She couldn’t hold back a smile. “He’s pretty great,” she agreed, realizing belatedly that she wasn’t even looking at the donkey when she said it. Biting her own tongue in embarrassment and annoyance, she shifted her gaze.

“The sign over there says his name is Smokey,” Nikki pointed out. She drew closer, coming up behind David and looking up at the animal, which was nearly twice her height. “I can touch him too, right?”

“Of course,” David nodded. “But as always, try to be gentle. Animals don’t like to be startled or manhandled.”

Nikki didn’t hesitate, stepping forward and smoothing a hand down one side of Smokey’s neck. “Hey, cool!” she said, eyes lighting up again. She looked over her shoulder at the boys. “Guys, come check this out!”

“Are you for real?” Neil asked skeptically, arching one eyebrow. “That thing could murder me with one swift kick.”

“Really? Awesome!” She looked up at the donkey again. “Homicidal power hidden under a calm exterior. I like it.”

Max, rolling his eyes, grabbed Neil’s arm and dragged him over to the donkey with him, ignoring the taller boy’s noisy complaints. Max reached up between Nikki and David to stroke Smokey’s neck, smiling just slightly. “You can tell how strong he is,” he commented softly to Nikki. “The muscle’s right there.”

“It’s true!” David agreed, grinning broadly at Max’s observations. “Donkeys make great work animals because of that strength. They’re wonderful hobby animals, too, though, if their disposition is nice.” Then he glanced up at Gwen again. “Are you going to come meet him?”

“Oh. Yeah, I guess,” she said with a nod, yanking herself out of her reverie. She’d gotten distracted watching David interact with the kids, thinking about how much _better_ he was at it when he wasn’t _trying_ so damn hard. He’d learned a lot over the years, but he was still doing better now than he did in the summer. He was beckoning to her now, though, and she followed with a smile.

“Here,” he said, catching her hand as she came closer. His fingers were warm as he led her gently to Smokey’s nose, showing her how to let the animal sniff her before leading her to stroke the soft skin and baby hairs of the muzzle, up the curve of the head and to the ears. She scratched behind the ears and in the top of the mane as David slowly let her go. “See? He’s a sweetheart.”

For a fraction of a second she wanted to tell David that _he_ was a sweetheart, but she bit her tongue again, instead just letting herself smile as she and David scratched Smokey’s head. Max was still stroking his neck, Nikki had laid her head against his side to feel him breathe, and Neil was cautiously patting his spine. Despite all the noise and chaos around them, it was a nice moment.

They made their slow way through the petting zoo - Gwen was very pleased with herself to capture a photo of all three kids laughing as Max held a little black bunny and Nikki compared it to his hair, and another of David bonding with an alpaca - and then, after Neil had thoroughly sanitized his hands, Nikki asked if they could tackle the nearby corn maze next.

"You picked the petting zoo!" Max complained.

"Are you saying you don't want to do the corn maze?" she countered, hands on her hips. Max rolled his eyes, huffed, and finally conceded.

"Great choice!" David praised. "I love a good corn maze. I've gotten pretty good at them over the years, if I do say so myself."

"That's the dorkiest thing you could possibly brag about," Gwen snorted.

"Besides, how the hell can you be good at corn mazes?" Max asked. "I bet you'd be no faster than any of us."

"We could test it," Neil pointed out. "Go in one by one and time each other."

"It's no fun to go through alone, though!" David complained.

"Okay, fine," Neil said with a shrug. "Teams then. Us versus you and Gwen."

"Yeah!" Nikki agreed, bouncing.

"I'd love to kick David's ass at something he thinks he's good at," Max agreed with a devious cackle.

The kids looked up at Gwen, who smiled and shrugged. "I'm game, as long as you monsters don't wander off while you're waiting for us."

"Deal," Max agreed.

David beamed. "This is gonna be so much fun!" he said, bouncing as excitedly as Nikki.

They reached the maze quickly, and Gwen let the kids watch as she started the stopwatch on her phone. Then the three of them took off into the maze, already squabbling good-naturedly about their best strategy.

Gwen and David stood in comfortable silence by the maze exit for a few moments before she said quietly, "This was a good idea, David."

"What's that?" he asked, glancing over at her with that sweet, easy smile of his.

"This," she said again, gesturing around them. "This trip. The kids can burn off some energy without tearing the apartment down, and have some fun new experiences at the same time… You're really good at this. Especially when you're not in counsellor mode."

He raised his eyebrows, halfway between surprised and thoughtful. "Am I?" He considered that for a moment. "I guess. I mean, I just… thought it would be fun. It's a tradition I love, and one I thought I'd want to share with… you know, my kid. Like, obviously not my kid, but…" He frowned. "The one I'm raising?"

Gwen laughed, tucking her hands into the pockets of her woolen pea coat. "Yeah." A breath of cool autumn air to help ground her. "I mean… it's probably good for him, you know? That we create new traditions, find space in his life for new things. You know, to separate this part of his life from the part before." It was half guesswork, but she didn't want to admit just yet that new traditions and experiences were doing her some good, too. Her family was so dysfunctional that she'd always feared she'd recreate that in her own home one day, but David's new traditions made this something else, something new. A different, better kind of family.

"You think?" he asked happily. "Gosh, I hope so. That would be just wonderful."

"I know so," she promised him, looking down. Even if she hadn't told him she was talking as much about herself as Max, she felt like she'd made some kind of emotional confession.

They stood side-by-side, quiet and happy, until the kids came crashing breathlessly through the exit. Gwen fished her phone out and stopped the count. "Pretty good!" she told them. "Four minutes, forty-seven seconds."

"Our turn!" David said, grabbing Gwen's arm. "Max, start your timer!"

Max held up his iPod and pressed the start button, and David took off at a trot, pulling a laughing Gwen behind him.

"So what's your strategy, big shot?" she asked with a grin as he pulled her along.

He was already looking right and left at the first intersection. "For starters, there's the classic solution: keep turning left."

"And you don't think Neil knows that trick?" she teased.

"I don't think Neil has as good a spatial sense as I do," David answered, flashing her a grin as he yanked her down the left path. "I already know the size of the field from standing outside. I know the average width of the walls now. I can make a mental map as we go, spot dead ends before we even see them. Also, we still have longer legs."

"What the fuck, David?" she asked, confused enough to momentarily forget the mental lid she'd put on her pottymouth while they were there. Luckily no one was nearby.

"Hasn't that come up before?" he asked, pulling her right. "It's how I know the woods in Sleepy Peak and all of Mr. Campbell's weird trails so well."

"It has not! I’ve seen you get lost!" Gwen answered, still a bit taken aback. "How much do I not know about you, David?"

"I need to be paying attention, or it doesn’t work. You know I’m a klutz, and an airhead, sometimes, too. You know everything important," he replied, affording her another smile.

"I didn't know you were a social worker," she pointed out. "That seems important."

He shrugged, rounding another bend and navigating around a couple of teenagers. His grip on her arm loosened. “Not that important. It's not like I had a job in the field yet. And it wasn't relevant to anything we did together.” He paused, considered an intersection, continued forward. “You know how I sleep, and what I worry about, and how to bring me back to earth when I get carried away. You know how I take my coffee and when I really need it. You know when to tell me to stop. And when to push me to go. We've been through a lot together at that camp. You know me… better than a lot of people, actually. In the ways that matter.”

Stunned, she slowed for a moment, and his hand slid down her arm until their hands met. He caught her fingers in his as they pulled against each other. "Come on," he said, smiling over his shoulder at her. "You wanna win, right?"

"I… yeah, of course." She shook away her surprise and let him drag her along, hurrying down one path after another. The further they got, the less often he had to turn around; Gwen was impressed to hear the sounds of the distant crowd as they apparently drew nearer to the exit. And then there it was - an open rectangle back into the chaos.

She ran alongside him back to the kids, and Max gaped at them as he stopped his own timer. "You were over a full minute faster than us! _How?_ "

"I told you," David said with a grin, leaning down to Max's height and booping his nose. Max scowled. "I'm really good at corn mazes.”

“And why are you guys holding hands?” Neil asked, raising an eyebrow.

David, still grinning and panting slightly, looked down at their hands in mild surprise, as if he'd forgotten. “Oh! Well, it doesn't count as a win unless we both make it out,” he laughed. “So I had to keep her close by. You know, to keep up with me.” He loosened his fingers and slowly disentangled his hand from hers.

Gwen's hand suddenly felt cold, and she shoved it in her coat pocket. “Anyone hungry?” she asked abruptly, wanting to occupy her mind.

“Actually, yeah,” Neil answered. “I’m ravenous.”

Gwen ignored Max and Nikki’s eyerolls at their friend’s vocabulary and reached towards her little backpack. “I have granola bars…”

“Don’t worry about that, Gwen, we can save those for the ride home,” David interrupted her. “I saved a little extra money for this weekend, and budgeted to treat everyone to lunch today! They’ve got all kinds of soups and sandwiches and hot dogs in the bakery and store, how does that sound?”

“Pretty good,” Neil admitted.

“Yeah, actually, I could go for a sandwich,” Max agreed. Nikki just nodded at him and gnashed her teeth.

“Oh, okay,” Gwen responded. “That sounds good, then, if you’re sure it’s not too much to spend.”

David smiled brightly. “Nope, it’ll be fun!”

The five of them navigated through the crowds back towards the barn near the parking lot, and David waved everyone inside, Gwen bringing up the rear once again as she tried to keep an eye on everyone. After collecting the kids’ orders, David sent them back outside to claim one of the few empty picnic tables, and Gwen stayed with him to help carry the food. Before too long they were loaded up – chicken clubs for David and Max, hot dog for Nikki, potato soup for Gwen, and a healthy serving of beef pie for Neil.

After lunch, David led everyone into the barn a second time. “Have you guys ever tried apple cider?” he asked.

“I have once, but it was ages ago,” Gwen told him.

“I think I have once too,” Neil chipped in.

“Well, if you ask me, it’s an essential fall experience!” David told them. “Come on, I want to buy some for everyone. There’s nothing like a good cup of warm apple cider on a crisp autumn day. After that we’ve got a hayride, then apple picking and pumpkin picking!”

They crossed the barn lengthwise, passing the counter where ready-to-eat food was being sold, the little marketplace full of jams and preserves and the bakery with delicious-smelling pies. At the far end, an old man and a young woman were serving apple cider out of giant pitchers, surrounded by customers.

“Five, please!” David said cheerfully when they finally reached the front of the line. He handed the young woman a few bills as she poured the steaming beverage into five paper cups, popping plastic lids on top.

“Fresh and hot, watch your mouth!” she warned cheerfully, distributing their cups. Gwen sipped carefully, knowing her heat tolerance was pretty high; the boys sniffed more cautiously at the steam that emerged from the holes in their lids. Nikki took a gulp immediately and then stuck her tongue out of her mouth, whining as they strolled out of the barn.

“Too hot!” she complained, making a face.

David laughed, sipping his own in much the same way Gwen was. “That’s what you get for rushing!” he told the girl. “You should be careful.”

“Careful is for losers,” she answered stubbornly, taking another sip, albeit more slowly. When she didn’t react quite so dramatically this time, Max and Neil exchanged glances and then each took a wary sip of their own.

“Oh… that’s pretty good, actually,” Neil said, eyebrows raised in surprise.

“I told you!” David said with a smile.

Gwen just smiled, continuing to drink hers slowly. It _was_ really good – though she couldn’t help thinking it would be nice with a cinnamon stick in it. Maybe another time. One hand tucked in her coat pocket, she kept her eyes on the kids as they all wandered along in whatever direction David was leading them. A minute or two later they found themselves at the front of the line for the next hayride, the kids jostling each other and teasing as they waited. She lifted her gaze to David, watching as he smiled down at the kids’ antics, then looked out towards the fields and orchards with a fondness unmistakably tinged by nostalgia. She wondered if he was thinking of the farms he’d visited at home. He looked handsome with that small smile, she caught herself thinking – there was a certain charm to the big, delighted grin he so often wore, but the little smile was so peaceful and content and sweet. His expression just now wasn’t pure, intentional joy – it was more complex than that, deeper, and it suited him. It wasn’t a side of him she saw often at the camp, though she was growing a little more familiar with it now that they were cohabitating full-time.

All of a sudden he glanced in her direction, smile growing slightly when he met her eye. Her heart thudded with the anxiety and embarrassment of being caught, and she smiled back and then glanced down into her cup, taking another sip. When she looked again a second later, he was still smiling at her. “Good day?” he asked softly, his voice gentle instead of loud and forceful like he so often was.

She nodded, her tongue feeling too heavy to form words properly. She swallowed. And then, thankfully, the tractor finally trundled up in front of them, pulling a big wagon full of hay bales.

“Up we go, everyone!” said the driver, a smiling middle-aged man in a plaid jacket and a baseball cap. Climbing down from the tractor, he opened the gate in the back of the wagon and put down a stepstool, offering a hand as people climbed up. Nikki charged up first, Max and Neil hot on her heels, and David and Gwen followed them to the front of the wagon, sitting down side by side on the hay bales that formed rows of seats. Nikki was kneeling on the bale, turned around to look at the tractor. When the driver climbed back into his seat, she started peppering him with questions, and before Gwen even had a chance to tell her to leave him alone, he laughed and began to answer. Once they started moving the motor was quite loud, but the driver didn’t mind Nikki stretching up and watching over his shoulder as he drove. After a minute, Max and Neil turned around to watch, as well. Gwen and David exchanged amused smiles.

The tractor and its trailer trundled through a muddy field and around behind the big barn, making its steady way towards a distant apple orchard. As they drove, the driver took off his hat and waved with it to the riders in another hayride going the opposite direction, loaded up with apples and pumpkins. When the wagon’s riders waved back at him, smiling, David thought to wave as well, and soon everyone in their own wagon was doing the same thing.

Within a couple of minutes they had pulled up alongside an apple orchard, and the trailer was coming to a halt. “Here we go! First stop, apple picking!” Putting the stepstool down again, he helped people out of the trailer, then climbed back into his seat to wait as they flooded into the orchard. “Twenty minutes, and then we move along!” he reminded them.

Gwen fished in her little backpack for a moment and then pulled out a few fabric grocery bags. “Go wild, monsters,” she said, passing them out to the kids. “Just make sure to pick just the nice ones. We pay by weight at the end.” Bags in hand, they hurried out into the trees.

“And don’t think I forgot about you,” she added, turning to David and handing him one more bag.

He lit up. “Aw, Gwen! You’re so thoughtful.” His fingers touched hers unselfconsciously as he took the bag from her.

“There was no way you weren’t going to want to pick some,” she laughed.

“Are you going to join me?” he asked, smiling.

“Yeah… I guess I am,” she agreed, letting him lead the way. Before long they caught up to the kids. Neil was tall enough to reach some of the fruits on his own, but Nikki was tottering on Max’s shoulders, straining to reach anything.

“David!” Nikki cried when she spotted him reaching up and inspecting an apple of his own. “Help! Someone already picked all the low ones!”

David laughed good-naturedly. “I suppose I could offer some assistance,” he said magnanimously, crossing over to her and scooping her off of Max’s shoulders and onto his own. Max breathed a deep sigh of relief, and Nikki shouted gleefully.

Gwen watched, already pretty sure of what was coming, as Max turned and grinned hopefully at her. She put a hand on her hip, raising her eyebrows to tell him she wasn’t helping unless he asked properly, and he rolled his eyes. “Come on, Gwen. Help a short guy out?”

“What’s the magic word?” she asked in a sugary-sweet voice, grinning broadly. She knew how much he hated being pushed for manners.

“Ugh.” He wiped a hand down his face, then shot her an obnoxiously fake smile. “ _Please?_ ”

“All right, pintsize,” she answered, approaching him. She grunted as she lifted him up onto her shoulders for the second time that weekend. “God, you’re gonna be the death of me, kid.”

David, Gwen, and Neil moved as a group from one tree to the next, the kids inspecting the fruits ruthlessly, seeking only the best. David managed to pick a few for himself even while keeping one hand on Nikki’s leg to hold her steady; Gwen noticed he seemed to have a good eye for the biggest, reddest ones. She spotted one or two as well, preferring to point them out to Max and let him reach them for her. By the time their twenty-minute window was over, they had a good number of tasty-looking apples rounded up, and they climbed back into the trailer quite satisfied. Nikki eagerly watched the tractor driver again as they set off for the pumpkin patch.

“He’s like an alternate-universe Quartermaster,” she told David as they dismounted from the wagon again. “You know, if QM was nice, and had both hands, and wasn’t even _possibly_ a murderer.”

“QM _is_ nice!” David scolded her gently. “And he’s… I mean, I’m pretty sure he’s _never_ killed, you know, another human being.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night, David,” Nikki agreed, her tone placating, before turning to rejoin Max and Neil. David glanced up at Gwen in mild distress, and she could only put a hand over her mouth to stifle the little giggle that bubbled up in her throat.

David waved everyone into a little group for a minute as they stood in the damp dirt. “Anyone ever picked their own pumpkin before?” he asked.

“Not in, like, a hundred years,” Gwen answered.

“I have!” Nikki answered. “But it was a long time ago for me, too.”

“Well, it’s a lot of fun!” he told them. “Neil and Nikki, if you guys think you’ll be okay to take them home on the train, I’m willing to buy pumpkins for the two of you. Look to make sure there aren’t any holes or rotting spots in the shell when you’re making your choice.” He pointed to a nearby pumpkin, speckled with bruises, as an example. “Beyond that, my main method for choosing is thinking about what I want to carve when it’s time for jack-o-lanterns, and looking for pumpkin shapes that would suit my idea!”

“Also,” Gwen added, noting the glint in Nikki’s eye, “I’d advise keeping them on the small side, _especially_ if they’re taking the train home with you. They need to be portable, and ideally packable.”

“I’m strong,” Nikki responded immediately.

“Neil, please stop her from trying to take home anything more than ten pounds,” Gwen begged. Neil rolled his eyes at Nikki, nodding.

“I’ll try. She’s hard to control, though.”

“Believe me, I know.”

“Go find your perfect pumpkin, guys!” David said cheerily. “Just stay in sight!”

 

David, immediately eager to find the pumpkin of his dreams, glanced over his shoulder at Gwen as he began to pick his way through the pumpkin patch. “You _must_ carve pumpkins at Hallowe’en, right?” he asked. Hallowe’en was her favourite holiday by far, and he _knew_ she had some creative talent, even if she tended to play it down.

She nodded. “Yeah, usually. I’ve been getting mine at the grocery store, though.”

“Come on,” he offered, giving her a wave and holding out his hand. “I’ll help you find a good one!”

Smiling slightly, as if he amused her – which, if he was being honest, often did seem to be the case – she conceded and followed after him, taking his hand to steady herself as she stepped over a large plant. “What were you thinking of carving?” she asked him, lifting a leaf out of the way to get a closer look at the pumpkin underneath.

“Not sure yet,” he confessed. “I always like a good, classic smiling pumpkin… but it can also be fun to do interesting silhouettes, or things like that. A couple years ago I did a pretty good cat face that I liked a lot.”

“You goober,” she snorted. “Of course you like smiling pumpkins. I bet you don’t even give them pointy teeth.”

“Not really,” he admitted, smiling sheepishly. “Why, what do you like to carve?”

“I mean, I vary sometimes, but honestly you can’t go wrong with a good scary face. And I’m not half bad at them.” She tossed a smile over her shoulder at him that suddenly made him feel warm despite the nip of the autumn air. “Mine are usually smiling too, I suppose, but it’s not a friendly smile. It’s, y’know, _evil._ ”

“Well, I can’t wait to see it,” David told her. “I’m sure the juxtaposition of our pumpkins will be lots of fun! And I wonder what Max will carve?”

“Me too, actually,” she agreed, glancing across the patch to where the three kids were bickering over whether a pumpkin was too big for Nikki to carry or not. “It’s… I dunno, not something I can really picture him doing.”

“I hope he will,” he answered. He hadn’t thought about that before – would Max _want_ to carve a pumpkin? He had just assumed, because carving pumpkins was so _fun_ and such a great Hallowe’en tradition, not to mention a wonderful bonding activity! He bit his tongue and looked down, thinking. How come he never thought ahead on these things?

Gwen’s voice jarred him out of his thoughts. “Hey.” He looked up again, startled, and she was closer than expected. She patted his shoulder. “I think we can convince him. He’s having a good day today, right? So he must not _completely_ hate Hallowe’en or fall.” Then she grinned. “Besides, if all else fails, we have five years’ experience making him do things he doesn’t want to, don’t we?”

He laughed, some of his concern dissipating. “Yeah, you’re not wrong.” He looked past her shoulder again, where Max had left Neil and Nikki to continue their argument, crouching down to inspect another pumpkin. The boy’s face was unusually thoughtful. David lit up watching him, and Gwen must have noticed, because she turned to look as well. They watched for a moment as Max turned the pumpkin back and forth, checking for spots, and then started to pull on it. The stem didn’t quite want to break, and David was about to move to go help when the tractor driver noticed and approached the boy, crouching down next to him and pulling out a pocketknife to saw the stem with. Max nodded a curt thanks as they both got to their feet again, and the driver glanced at David and Gwen, giving them a smile and a little wave. Max, following the man’s gaze, saw them watching and hurriedly turned around, going back to Neil and Nikki.

“I think things are gonna be okay,” Gwen said softly. “At least as far as Hallowe’en goes.”

“Yeah… looks like you might be right,” David agreed, smiling.

“And on that note,” she said, “There’s a pumpkin I really like the look of over here. You wanna lend me a hand?”

“Sure.”

Another ten minutes later, Gwen, David, Neil, and Max all had pumpkins they liked, but Nikki was still lamenting over the giant pumpkin she was forced to leave behind. The one she had was a great candidate, and looked huge in her lap as far as David was concerned, but she had wanted the biggest one she could find.

“I don’t even know if we’re allowed to take pumpkins on the train,” Neil was pointing out, irritated with her. The pumpkin in his own lap was considerably smaller. “Especially ones that big! It’ll need its own seat! If it gets confiscated, you can’t say I didn’t tell you so.”

“They can confiscate this pumpkin from my cold, dead hands,” Nikki answered, baring her teeth, suddenly viciously protective of the pumpkin she had.

“Chill out, Nik,” Max assured her. “I’m pretty sure they don’t give a shi– uh, a… a _damn_ what you take on the train, as long as it’s not, like, a bomb or something.” He amended his language quickly in response to sharp glances from both David and Gwen.

“Damn?” Gwen hissed, putting a hand over her face. “ _Damn?_ That’s the most polite alternative you could come up with?”

“Sor- _ry_ ,” Max answered, rolling his eyes. “It’s hard on such short notice.”

“You’ve spent five summers with this guy and you haven’t picked up _any_ minced oaths?” she demanded, jabbing a thumb at David. Max snorted.

The hayride took them back towards the barn, and eventually the five of them and the other passengers all dismounted, weighed down by their apples and pumpkins. “What do you say to the driver?” David reminded the kids as the friendly old man stood next to the little steps, helping people down from the wagon.

“Thank you!” the three of them chorused, and Nikki seemed to genuinely mean it.

They marched out to the parking lot to load their spoils into the car after paying, managing to fit everything safely into David’s trunk. Leaning against the car’s side, they snacked on granola bars out of Gwen’s bag. “So, did everyone have a good day? Are we ready to go home?” David asked.

“Well, hang on a second,” Gwen answered. “I was thinking… I still have a few bucks left, and some of the stuff back in the bakery smelled _really_ good… You want to pick up a couple things to take home before we go?”

“Yes!” David said immediately. There was little he loved as much as fresh fall baking. “Max, is there anything you want?”

“I dunno, maybe,” Max answered with a surly shrug, quickly covering up how taken aback he was by the question. “Maybe something to share with Neil and Nik?”

“Yeah, of course!” David answered. “Come on guys, let’s go pick a few things out.”

He led the march back up to the barn and into the bakery, making a beeline for the pumpkin pie. “That’s what my family’ll be eating tomorrow,” he commented to Gwen. “I’ve been thinking about it all weekend…”

“Well then, let’s get one,” she offered. “And maybe one of the apple, too? It smells amazing, my god.”

“Hey, Gwen,” came Max’s voice, and they turned to look at him. He was standing next to the display of jams and preserves. “Uh, I just, noticed there was raspberry jam, and I know raspberries are your favourite, so…” he tapped the jar, then quickly looked away. “Also, uh, can we get these ginger cookies? To share?”

David and Gwen shared a smile. It was sweet when Max let slip something caring like that, and in David’s opinion, even sweeter that he’d do it in front of Neil and Nikki. He changed the topic quickly enough, but it was heartwarming to know that he paid enough attention to know how much Gwen loved raspberries, let alone that he pointed the jam out. Again, David couldn’t help thinking how much he loved when the two of them got along. “Of course, buddy,” Gwen answered, crossing to pick up a jar of the jam and then the package of cookies. “David and I went for pumpkin and apple pies, that sound good to you?”

“Sure. Whatever,” Max answered, shrugging. “Hey Nik, you like ginger, right?”

“Yeah!” came the reply, and David glanced down, spotting the girl on her hands and knees under a table, watching an ant crawl across the floor with a large crumb. Neil stood exasperated nearby, face in his hands, and David couldn’t help chuckling.

Finally they made their way back out to the car with all of their purchases, Gwen grudgingly allowing the kids one cookie each for the drive. “Any more and you won’t have room for dinner,” she was grumbling at them as she got into her seat.

David repressed a smile as he turned his keys in the ignition, glancing at her sideways. “You’re sounding very much like a mom again,” he teased her, just loudly enough for her to hear. The kids, in the backseat, were already busy with their own conversation, paying David and Gwen no mind whatsoever.

Gwen groaned, her head falling back against the seat. “God, you’re right. When did I become this person?”

“Oh, I think there’s always been a bit of it in there,” he laughed. “I’ve seen you betray your care for the campers before, much as you try to hide it.”

“You sit on a throne of lies,” she complained.  “I’m a heartless bitch and I don’t give a shit about those little bastards.”

He snorted. “All those swear words bubbling just under the surface all day, waiting to come out?” he asked. “Anyway, you and I _both_ know you care. Denying it just won’t work. Not on me.”

“Ugh. Why must you be so insistently optimistic about me?” Gwen responded, humorously self-deprecating. “It’s exhausting, trying to live up to your high opinion.”

God, as if there was anything for her to live up to, he thought. As if she didn’t deserve every ounce of admiration he had for her. “I’m just trying to help you be your best self,” he joked back.

“Well, stop it,” she laughed. “I have no interest. Don’t you know all I want from life is to end up a bog witch in a quiet little hermitage?”

“Ooh, a hermitage in a bog? That sounds wonderful!” David answered cheerfully. “Can I come?”

“I’m not sure I can successfully be a hermit if you’re there too,” she pointed out. “And it _definitely_ won’t be quiet.”

“You wound me,” he told her, laying one hand over his heart in mock sadness.

“Good. You deserve it. Like I said, I’m heartless and cold.” She stuck her tongue out. “Serves you right for thinking otherwise.”

“So unkind to yourself,” he said lightly, hoping he could get away with a moment of sincerity if he played it as part of the game. “You deserve to be thought highly of, you know!”

Out of the corner of his eye he could see a smile pull at the corner of her mouth, and she glanced down, then out her window. “I suppose I should expect as much from my CBFL,” she said, a little quieter now.

David couldn’t contain his bright smile then, a pleasant warmth filling his belly at what he was pretty sure was her first use of his silly label for their friendship. “Yes you should,” he told her, turning his cheerful gaze back to the road. After a moment she idly turned the radio up a few notches, and he hummed along with her music for a while. He was starting to learn more of it, and he liked her taste.

Glancing at the kids in the rearview mirror, he asked, “How do you guys feel about some grilled sandwiches for dinner, then pie and cookies and some of _our_ favourite Hallowe’en movies? Gwen and I wanted to show you some of the classics from when we were kids. They hold up well, I promise.”

“That sounds fine, I guess,” Max answered, half-distracted and not even sounding entirely derisive. David smiled to himself again.

Yes. After a long day of fall farm activity, warm sandwiches and pie sounded great. And old favourite Hallowe’en movies on the couch with Gwen – and some of his favourite kids, of course – sounded even better.


	10. Happy Canadian Thanksgiving

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lovely last day of the long weekend includes Skype introductions to David's family before Neil and Nikki have to go home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM SO SORRY. IT WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO TAKE THIS LONG. My new job is crazy draining and my life has been... kinda bonkers lately, I'm afraid. Not gonna go into details but things have been weird. Very hopeful the new chapter will come much more quickly. Hope you enjoy this one. Love you lots!!

On Sunday morning, the kids ate their breakfast and then retreated back to Max’s room, piling onto his bed in their pyjamas to laze about. Nikki had brought her DS with her and was laying with her legs in Max’s lap and her head hanging off the edge of the mattress, the two of them in the midst of a casual Pokémon battle, while Neil leaned against Max’s shins with his head in one hand and scrolled through his favourite science news site on his phone.

“Hey Max,” Nikki began conversationally at some point, “do you like David and Gwen more than you used to?”

“What?” Max asked, glancing at her with eyebrows raised.

“I was just thinking,” she explained, “that you listen to them a lot better than you used to. Like, yesterday, they kept reminding you not to swear while we were out, and normally you’d ignore them, but you didn’t. And… I dunno, it kinda seems like you like it here, and don’t always mind them any more.”

Max took a breath to reply, then paused, considering for a second. His instinct was to deny it completely, but Neil and Nikki both would see right through that. He was stubborn as all hell, but even he had to admit he was hardly the world’s most convincing liar, especially to people who knew him well. “…I have to listen to them, at least with stuff like that,” he admitted after a moment, slowly. “I mean, Gwen was right when she said that all those other parents probably would’ve lost their shit over it. And it’s pretty obvious I’m not _their_ kid. Anyone with a brain probably could’ve put two and two together and figured out I’m a foster kid or something, and then they could report it to the agency and next thing we know David and Gwen are labeled shitty foster parents and I’m moved. And like hell I’m going to live with some total fucking strangers who’re probably all ooey-gooey and wanna take me to fucking _therapy_ and give me _hugs_ every day and shit.”

The other two were quiet for a moment. Max glanced down at Nikki – she wasn’t looking at him, but she’d settled her game down against her stomach, thinking. His gaze flicked to Neil, who lifted an eyebrow in the most eloquent wordless display of _you didn’t answer the actual question_ that Max had ever seen, and he sighed. “Okay, yeah, I guess I… hate them less,” he added unhappily. He rested his DS against Nikki’s knee across his lap and crossed his arms, looking down. “Listen, it’s not like I’m… excited to be here. But anywhere is better than with my fucking parents. And…” He hesitated, biting his tongue. “You know. They’re the only adults on this goddamn continent who give a shit about me.”

Neil patted Max’s ankle awkwardly, not especially good at comfort. “It seems like it could be a lot worse,” he pointed out. “I mean… you know. They’re not so bad. Gwen and David, I mean. My problems with Camp Campbell have always been more with the camp itself than with them. It seems like they’re really trying, so…”

Max shrugged. “Yeah. I think they actually wanna… you know, get this right, or whatever. Not fuck me up any more than my parents already did. I dunno.”

“Hell, that sounds pretty okay,” Neil responded. “I’d take it. For that matter, call me up if they ever have room for a fourth person.”

Max snorted, glancing up again and affording his friend a bit of a smile. “Come on. At least you can play your parents against each other.”

“Sure, I guess,” Neil said, rolling his eyes and sighing. “The novelty’s wearing off, though. It’s more tiring than fun at this point. I guess I thought eventually they’d get their shit worked out and stop being so immature about it, but maybe not.”

Nikki finally pushed herself up to look at them, grinning as she propped her elbows against the edge of the bed. “Hey, Neil’s got a good idea there! Let’s all move in with Gwen and David, and never deal with our parents again. It would be fun! They could buy a big house with enough room for everyone, and there’d be a big yard, and we’d all have our own rooms, and the three of us could make their lives hell, but not quite enough that they wouldn’t want to keep us,” she enthused. “I mean, you _know_ David’s enough of a sucker to go for it.”

Finally Max began to laugh, Neil snickering along with him. “Yeah. Neil could fill his room with science equipment, and we’d get a dog to run around with you all the time, Nik,” Max joked. “And eventually David and Gwen would get married and we’d finally be the ‘perfect nuclear family.’” He used air quotes, recalling a certain eventful day from camp.

“You think?” Neil laughed. “Even after all of that fuss the other day, insisting they weren’t into each other after Nik asked if they were getting married?”

Max rolled his eyes. “It’s gross as hell, but also kind of inevitable, don’t you think?” he said. “I mean, I don’t want to _think_ about it, but come on. It’s a little hard to miss.”

Nikki was giggling so hard she started to slide off the bed, and the boys, laughing, had to grab her arms and drag her back up. Letting them haul her forward into Max’s lap, she tossed herself over his legs, phones and game consoles sliding forgotten to the bedspread. “There was a reason I asked!” she told them, wiping her eye. “I just assumed that if they’d come this far…”

Max didn’t bother pushing her off. “Still, _god_. It’s cool how you always say what’s on your mind and everything, Nik, but seriously…”

 She flashed him a toothy grin. “What did you invite me over for, if not to make everything a little awkward?”

Neil plunked his chin on her shoulder blade, grinning at Max over her back. “And here I assumed we were just here to test Gwen and David’s limits.”

“Closer,” Max laughed. “I was also hoping I could convince you to do a few chapters of math homework for me, but…”

 

David sat with his laptop at the kitchen table, having finally managed to connect with his mother over Skype. “Mom!” he greeted with an excited wave as her face appeared onscreen. “Hey!”

“Davey!” she answered, face lighting up. She was using her tablet, so the angle was a little odd, and in her attempt to fix it her face filled the screen. She laughed at herself. “Happy Thanksgiving, honey!”

“Thank you, you too!” he answered, putting his elbows on the table and resting his head in his hands. “I miss you so much! I’m sorry I couldn’t join you.”

“That’s okay, sweetie, you have lots to attend to there. And I’ll be coming to see you in just a few more weeks!” She ran a hand back through her red waves. “How are things going this busy weekend? Where is everyone?”

“Things have gone pretty well so far!” he told her. “We stayed in on Saturday and just had fun and watched Halloween movies with the kids – new stuff Gwen and I have never heard of, which is so weird. Then yesterday we drove out of the city to visit a farm for pumpkin-picking and stuff, and in the evening Gwen and I showed the kids some of _our_ favourite Halloween movies. Right now Max has Neil and Nikki in his room, and Gwen’s reading. How’s everyone over there? I miss all of you!”

“We miss you too, honey! We’re great – I’ll let you say hi to everyone in a few minutes… your Uncle Clyde got a promotion at work, and Kitty’s just gotten her first job over at the Timmy’s by their place.”

“That’s super!” he gushed. “Good for her!”

Maureen laughed. “I don’t think she’s as excited as you are, but she’ll be fine, I’m sure. Hey, any chance I could chat with Gwen? I’ve got news for her!”

“Um, sure!” he answered. “One second.” He jumped to his feet and leaned out the kitchen door. “Hey, Gwen! My mom wants to tell you something, got a minute?”

He returned to the table with Gwen behind him, leaning on the back of his chair and waving to the screen. “Hi, Maureen. How are you?”

“I’m great, honey, thanks! Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!” Maureen answered. “Listen, you know those photos you asked me about? I found my albums, and they’re on my packing list for my visit next month! But we’re at David’s Granny’s house today and one of my all-time favourites is still framed on the wall; I wanted to show you.” Grinning widely, she got up and began to move.

David grimaced, knowing exactly what picture was coming. “Aw, Mom…”

But she was undeterred. Camera wobbling as she moved, she approached her mother’s couch and then held the tablet up to the photo wall above it. “Here it is!” she said, poking her smiling face onscreen again to point at the photo in question. A toddler David, clad in only a diaper and a shock of staticky red hair that stood up on end, was lying filthy in a mud puddle in the middle of the grass with an enormous smile on his face. A small, long-haired dog stood next to him, licking his arm. “This was Mom’s dog while Davey was growing up – Rascal. These two loved to rampage through the yard together, getting as dirty as possible. I’d have to hose them down before bringing them back inside.”

Gwen could barely contain herself. “Thank you so much, Maureen,” she giggled, wiping a small tear from her eye. “I’m… this is the best gift I could have received today.”

Maureen grinned widely. “I’m so pleased,” she said, not missing the look of agony on her son’s face.

“Mom… you’re so cruel to me,” David whined as Gwen, still laughing, rested her forehead against his shoulder and tried to compose herself. He reached up and patted her hair idly.

“Only because I love you,” Maureen answered cheerfully. “Okay, okay, you want to say hi to the family? Maybe Gwen wants to run away for this part to avoid awkward questions, I don’t know.”

“Yes please!” David answered. Gwen, standing up again and wiping her eyes, took a second to consider before pulling a chair next to him and sitting down.

“You know what?” she said. “For all that the questions might be awkward, I’m just _so_ curious where this geek comes from.”

Maureen smiled. “Well, everyone’s gotten the run-down on your situation, so hopefully it won’t be _too_ bad.” Looking up from her tablet as she moved again, she said, “Who wants to talk to Davey first?”

Her tablet was first commandeered by David’s cousins, Kitty and Kira – fifteen and twelve years old, respectively. They waved excitedly to David and peppered him with questions about life in New York City and the kid he was looking after. “And!” Kira added, bouncing. “Who’s the pretty lady next to you? Is that Gwen? Auntie Maureen mentioned her!”

Gwen tossed David a grin as he smiled nervously. “I like this one,” she teased him.

“Yes, that’s Gwen! She’s a good friend of mine!” David answered his cousin, scratching his neck. “We work together, and now we live together too!”

“Auntie Maureen says she’s not your girlfriend, but she’s _way_ prettier than I imagined, so are you sure?” Kira asked.

David flushed, covering his face with one hand. Next to him he could hear Gwen laughing. He’d known the situation would be hard for some of his family to make sense of, but he hadn’t expected his _cousins_ to give him a hard time – though of course, Kira was nothing if not up-front, and she _was_ only twelve. “She’s not my girlfriend,” he muttered awkwardly. “She’s just my best friend, Kira.”

“What about Connor?” Kira asked.

“He’s my other best friend. I can have more than one.” He sank down slightly in his chair.

Kitty rolled her eyes. “You say that, but…” David thanked her silently for not finishing the question. She was smirking at him. Then she looked at Gwen. “Listen, Davey’s a huge dope. Don’t be afraid to push him around a bit.”

“Don’t worry, kiddo, I’ve been bullying him since the day we met,” Gwen promised. Glancing at her out of the corner of his eye, David appreciated the smile on her face.

“Good. Great. He needs that.” Kitty nodded approvingly. “Hey Davey, you wanna talk to Dad? He had a question for you about that bee garden you were helping him with.”

“Sure,” David agreed. Gwen got up from the table and milled around in the cupboards for a few minutes, feeling equal parts awkward and curious, as Kitty passed Maureen’s tablet to David’s Uncle Clyde and Aunt Tish. He chatted with them for a few minutes about their garden (of _course_ David was passionate about saving the bees and growing local plants, Gwen thought to herself) and Clyde’s promotion and Tish’s success at the latest craft fair she’d attended. Eventually Gwen returned to the table, having fixed herself a plate of cheese melted over crackers, and she shared them with David as he finally got to his grandmother.

“Hi Granny!” he greeted excitedly as she took possession of the tablet. Clearly Maureen’s mother, she had thick grey hair, huge round glasses, and an enormous smile.

“Davey!” she said, her face lighting up. “It’s so good to see that handsome face of yours! How are you, honey?”

“I’m great!” he told her. He threw an arm around Gwen’s shoulders where she sat next to him. “Granny, this is Gwen, I’ve told you about her before! Gwen, this is my Granny, Virginia.”

“Yes, of course! Hi, Gwen! Lovely to meet you. I’ve heard all about you, dear. All good things, I promise,” the old woman said with a wave. “You can call me Gigi, honey, everyone does!”

“Hi, Gigi,” Gwen said, unable to supress her smile. What was it about David’s family – how were they all so utterly _likable?_ “It’s nice to meet you, too.”

“One day we’ll meet in person, I hope!” Gigi said. “Normally I get a chance to meet anyone Davey’s so fond of.”

David smiled brightly. “How’s your fall been so far, Granny?” he asked, leaning forward with his elbows on the table and his chin in his hands.

Gigi had told them all about her weekly bridge games with the girls and was halfway through her tale about the nice teenage boy from across the road who’d been doing her yardwork and who she’d been hoping to introduce to Kitty when Max, Neil, and Nikki came barreling out of Max’s room and into the kitchen, seeking food. Max pulled up short when he saw the scene in the kitchen, Neil and Nikki falling quiet behind him as they all strained to get a look at David’s screen.

Glancing over at them, David lit up with an idea and waved Max over. “Max!” he said. “Come meet my Granny!” Turning back to the screen, he said, “Granny, would you like to meet Max?”

“I’d love to!” she said. “Come where I can see you, young man!”

Max approached the table slowly, looking rather uncertain, and David scooted his chair back from the table so he could pull Max in front of him. One hand on Max’s shoulders, he reached out and adjusted the laptop screen to point the camera at him more directly. Max – unsure whether to be actively put out, it seemed – gave Gigi an awkward wave. Neil and Nikki appeared in the onscreen preview as well, tiptoeing up behind David’s shoulders to have a peek.

“Um, hi,” Max said hesitantly.

“Hi, Max!” was the cheerful response. “You know, I’ve heard all about you from Maureen and Davey! It’s so nice to put a face to all those tales of chaos! You sound like quite the troublemaker.” She winked.

“Uh, I guess,” Max answered. “I mean, uh… well, I guess I’ve given David a pretty hard time over the last few years.” He glanced away, rubbing his neck uncomfortably.

“Good! He needs someone to keep him on his toes.” Gigi laughed. “And who’s that behind you, hm?”

Max glanced back at Neil and Nikki as David ducked his head to speak to her again. “Max has his best friends from Camp Campbell over for the weekend – Neil and Nikki,” he told her with a smile. “They’ve been lovely guests, and it’s fun to see them outside of camp! Yesterday we drove way out of the city so we could all go to a big farm for apple- and pumpkin-picking and hay rides and the whole autumn shebang. It was so much fun!”

“Your grandfather would be delighted,” Gigi told him with a grin. “I’m sure he was up there watching, making sure the tractor ran smooth.”

“Well then, he did a great job,” David agreed.

Gigi looked back at Max, who was shifting from foot to foot. “Oh, Davey, let those poor munchkins go back to their play. They look terribly restless,” she laughed.

“You have a point.” David took his hands off of Max’s shoulders. “I’ll only be a few more minutes, guys, and then we can get a snack together, deal?” The three of them nodded and darted away into the living room. David pulled back in to the table and adjusted his laptop again, Gwen holding back a small laugh next to him. “It’s so good to see your face, Granny. I miss you so much this weekend!”

“We’ll enjoy the pumpkin pie in your honour,” she promised. “So when are you bringing your lovely lady-friend and that little scoundrel up to meet me? I’d love to get a good look at the three of you. Maybe some photos on the stairs!”

“Granny gets family portraits on the big staircase every year,” David explained to Gwen with a grin, before turning back to the screen. “I dunno, Granny! We’re not sure if or when we’ll be able to take Max across the border. But I’ll let you know as soon as we find out. I’d _love_ to bring them home with me for a while. Gwen and I were just talking about it the other night, actually!”

“All right, well, I’ll have my fingers crossed for good news, then,” she told him. “I have to go check on the turkey, honey, but call me soon, okay? Happy Thanksgiving, even if you’re not celebrating just yet. Kira wants to say bye to you, too!”

“Okay! Happy Thanksgiving, Granny. I hope it’s wonderful.”

 

“Hey, Max!” David was calling from the kitchen. The three kids paused and looked up. “Can you guys come back for a minute?”

“Yeah,” Max answered, giving a shrug when Neil and Nikki shot him curious glances. They returned to the kitchen and saw David’s mother back on the laptop screen.

“Mom wanted to say hi, and meet Neil and Nikki!” David said, turning the laptop a bit and adjusting it again so the camera faced the three of them. “Is that okay?”

“Hi, Max!” Maureen said with a wave. “Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! I heard you’re having a pretty fun weekend yourself, even without turkey!”

“Um, hi, Maureen,” Max answered, mustering a smile and a little wave. “Yeah, it’s been pretty good.” Catching a gesture from Gwen behind the computer, he quickly added, “Uh, this is Neil, and Nikki. From camp. I guess you’ve probably heard about them from David?”

“I have indeed! I was just so curious to say hi.” She beamed. “Hi, guys! I recognise you from all Davey’s camp pictures! I’ve heard so much about you both! All good things!”

“Uh, hi,” Neil answered uncertainly, ducking slightly to be visible in the picture alongside his shorter friends.

Nikki jumped forward a little more eagerly. “Hi, David’s mom!” she greeted cheerfully.

Maureen laughed. “You can call me Maureen, Nikki. How are you? Are you guys causing lots of trouble for Gwen and Davey?”

“Well… we’re not _not_ causing trouble,” Nikki answered, uncertain what response Maureen wanted.

“We’re causing trouble,” Max confirmed, slightly more sure he knew what the woman was after. “And eating them out of house and home.”

“Excellent!” Maureen answered, flashing a thumbs-up. “That’s what I wanted to hear! Sorry I can’t be there to add to the chaos, Max. Or the food. But a few more weeks and I’ll come on down and fill you up with all the baked goods you can eat, deal?”

He nodded. “Deal.” Hesitating, he then asked, “Those chocolate chip cookies, too?”

“Absolutely!” she promised. “Oh, and I meant to tell you! I met a wonderful Indian woman at the community centre who’s helping me learn to get Imarti right! So with any luck I’ll have it down pat by the time I come see you!”

“Oh, cool,” Max answered, working hard to remain impartial. He was still a little uncertain about Maureen, but there was no denying she was a good cook, and the prospect of Imarti was admittedly exciting.

“I think so!” she responded. “All right, I guess I’ll let you guys go. Thanks for coming to say hi, Neil and Nikki! I hope one of these days I get a chance to meet you in person! You all seem like such wonderful and interesting kids.”

“Bye Maureen!” Nikki said, bouncing up on her toes and waving.

“Yeah, uh, bye!” Neil stammered. “Nice meeting you!”

“Bye Maureen,” Max added with a nod. “Um, happy Thanksgiving, and stuff.”

“You too, kiddo!” she answered. “I’ll see you soon!”

David turned the laptop back towards himself as the kids moved back towards the door, watching with mild curiosity. “Miss you, Mom,” he said fondly, a bittersweet smile on his face.

“Miss you too, kiddo, tons,” Maureen answered. “But don’t you worry, honey, the time will pass before you know it. I’ll be there so soon!”

“I know, I know.” He sighed. “Enjoy the turkey for me. And Gran’s cranberry sauce. And the squash. And the pie…”

Maureen laughed. “We will, Davey. And I’ll be there to share the same meal with you in just a few more weeks.”

“Yeah. Love you, Mom.” Max exchanged glances with Neil and Nikki as David rested his elbows on the table and his head on his hands, looking wistful.

“Love you too!”

Neil raised an eyebrow. He and Nikki seemed as baffled by David and Maureen’s dynamic as Max and Gwen had been the first time they listened to David on the phone with her. All Max could do now was shrug.

“Love you more.” David smiled gently again. “Okay, okay. I’ll let you get to your dinner. It sounds like Granny could probably use a hand.”

“All right, sweetie. Bye, Gwen, I’ll see you soon. Don’t go too easy on my big softie here.”

Gwen leaned a touch closer to David, smiling as she kept herself in frame. “Don’t worry, Maureen, I keep him on his toes. See you soon.” She waved, then got up from the table, taking her glass and David’s empty coffee mug to the sink.

David, eyes still on the screen, made a little catching motion and tapped his cheek, then blew another kiss back at the camera. “Bye, Mom. I’ll call you later this week.” Then, finger swiping the trackpad, he ended the call and sat back in his seat, looking thoughtful.

Nikki looked at Max again, and again he only shrugged. “ _I_ don’t get it,” he told her in a low mumble. “They just… really like each other. Like, actually.” Nikki raised her eyebrows at that, somewhere between surprise and general acceptance.

“Your mom seems nice, David,” she said, looking up at the redhead. He seemed slightly startled, as if jarred out of deep thought, and looked over.

“She’s… yeah, she’s the best,” he told her with a nod. “I’m glad you like her.”

“She definitely seems cooler than you,” Nikki added with a grin, and David couldn’t help breaking into a smile at that.

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” he laughed softly.

“The rest of your family seemed pretty great, too,” Gwen pointed out, not looking up from the dishes she was washing. “Is it just in your genes to be outrageously pleasant, or what?”

“Well, maybe,” he said. “On Mom’s side, at least.”

“Only side that matters,” Gwen told him. Neil and Nikki looked at Max again, and he waved at them in a casual gesture that clearly indicated he’d explain later.

“Your granny’s like, a million years old,” Max commented as he slipped onto the bench around the table. “But, uh, she seemed nice, too. Is this just what Canadians are like, or what?”

David was clearly suppressing his amusement. “Some of us,” he chuckled. “The stereotype about politeness is probably true. If I’m being honest, I’ve known some _very_ unpleasant people in Canada, but… they’d still apologize if you stepped on their foot.” He paused. “And Granny’s eighty-nine. Which isn’t _young_ , I’ll grant you, but it isn’t quite a million.”

Neil and Nikki rounded the table to park on the long side of the bench. “How did you end up a dual citizen, David?” Neil asked. “You’re obviously very close to your family, so I’m kinda surprised you venture all the way to Camp Campbell every year, not to mention _moving_ here…”

“Oh,” he said. “Well, my parents are both dual citizens. My grandfather on my dad’s side was from Ohio, and my dad grew up with loads of family there. He used to stay with them on holidays, and then he went to college in Pennsylvania. My mom became a dual citizen when they got married because they lived in the New England area for a few years before I came around. We bounced back and forth across the border for a while when I was a kid, and then when my parents split up Mom decided to move us back close to her family and stay put for a while. But Dad insisted on sending money for me to enroll at Camp Campbell the first summer after the split, for… a variety of reasons. That was the only year he paid for it, but I fell so in love with camp that Mom kept sending me after that.”

“I didn’t know your parents were divorced, David,” Neil said in surprise.

David nodded. “I don’t talk about it much.” He looked down for a moment, and Neil and Nikki glanced at Max, starting to understand some of the comments from earlier.

Max cast a quick glance at David’s pensive, somewhat bittersweet expression, and then coughed awkwardly. “Uh, David, we talked about getting a snack?” he said, suddenly eager to change the subject.

“Yes!” David’s face rose again, a bright smile plastered over top of the frown of the moment before. “Hm… How would the three of you feel about taking a while to bake something? After yesterday I’m really in the mood, and my friend sent me a delicious pumpkin cookie recipe I’ve been meaning to try. Come on, it’d be fun, don’t you think?”

Max narrowed his eyes briefly. “You want us to bake with you?” he asked. He was trying to sound put off, but if he was being honest, he kind of didn’t mind cookies and he actually _really_ liked pumpkin. He looked over at his friends.

“I’m up for it if I get to lick some bowls afterwards,” Nikki said with a toothy grin.

“…I’ve been reading a book about the chemistry of baking,” Neil admitted slowly. “It’s _really_ interesting.”

David beamed, turning his hopeful gaze on Max. “Come on, Max, don’t you think it’d be fun?”

Max sighed. “All right,” he said gruffly. “Yeah, I guess.”

Gwen, who had been leaning back against the counter and listening, chuckled and started for the door. “If all four of you are going to be baking,” she told them, “I’m gonna go take the batteries out of the smoke detector and then stay well out of the way. I’ll be in the living room with my book if you need me.”

 

“Do they really have to go?” Max was protesting from the backseat of David’s car. “Listen, I’m just saying _everyone’s_ happier when they’re here.”

Gwen glanced up at Max in the rear view mirror. He was trying to hide the hint of desperation in his voice – that bit of genuine distress that his friends were leaving and he had no idea when he’d see them again – under an intentionally-obnoxious level of complaint. “My landlord isn’t,” she joked, deciding to let him believe he was successfully disguising his sadness. “And you wouldn’t be, either, when we completely ran out of grocery money.”

“That’s true,” Neil agreed, glancing at Max. Gwen got the impression that he, too, was trying to comfort Max somehow by playing along with the joke. “As soon as the food ran out I’d have to go. I can’t live that way right now.”

“Don’t worry, Max,” Nikki added. “When your crime empire really takes off and you have money to buy Gwen and David a house, we’ll come over and never leave again.”

“That sounds great, Nikki,” David commented as he pulled into a parking spot, and Gwen wondered if he was entirely listening. “Unfortunately, this weekend must come to an end, and we’ve made it to the train station.”

“It’s not too late to just go back home!” Max said. “Come on, we could make it work. You guys won’t even notice them.”

“But their parents might notice their absence,” Gwen told him. “Come on, man. Out of the car.”

Max groaned and dragged himself out of the car behind Nikki. The kids rounded the back of the car to the trunk, and Max even forgot to make himself out to be completely unhelpful, tossing Nikki’s little backpack onto his shoulders and scooping up Neil’s pumpkin. He trudged reluctantly into the station, trailing at the back of the group. Gwen patted his shoulder quickly, faking pulling lint off of his hood. He didn’t meet her eye.

The five of them made their way out to the appropriate platform and rummaged through Neil and Nikki’s wallets, making sure they still had their return tickets. The two of them were loaded up with cookies and sandwiches to get them through the long ride, and David had called their parents to confirm they’d be making their train as planned. As they arranged their things and stood to wait for their train, Max shot pointed glares at David and Gwen every minute or so until Gwen started to catch on.

“Hey, David, c’mere for a minute,” she said quietly, taking him by the elbow. He looked at her curiously as she steered him a few steps away.

“Hm? What is it?”

“Just wanna talk to you over here for a minute,” she told him.

 

Max rolled his eyes as Gwen pulled a clueless David away out of earshot, and then he turned to his friends, putting Neil’s pumpkin down carefully by their feet. “I wish you guys didn’t have to go,” he grumbled, eyes downcast and voice low.

“We’ll come back again, silly!” Nikki told him brightly.

“Yeah,” Neil agreed. “You won’t be rid of us for long. Come on.”

“Besides, we’ll keep texting and everything,” Nikki continued. “I can’t break my meme streak!”

Max snorted and rolled his eyes. Nikki had started sending him increasingly abstract Shrek memes every day over a month ago now, even over this past weekend, and she showed no signs of stopping. “Yeah, that would be such a _fucking_ shame,” he snarked.

“You know you love ‘em,” she answered, grinning.

“Yeah, yeah.” He looked down again, scuffing a shoe against the concrete platform. “I just… y’know, it’s better when you guys are _here_.”

“Yeah, we know,” Neil told him. “But hey, things aren’t so bad, even when we’re not. You told us that this morning. You’ll be all right.”

“Stuff’s getting better, right?” Nikki prompted, smiling encouragingly.

“Yeah… I guess so,” Max admitted. Then he huffed and jumped forward, throwing his arms around their necks for a moment, dragging Neil down to his and Nikki’s height. They hugged him back, quickly, and then they broke apart. “Thanks for coming, guys,” Max said quietly.

“Thanks for inviting us,” Neil answered. “It was a good weekend. We’ll be back.”

The three of them looked up as the train began to chug into the station, wheels screeching as they slowed.

“I’ll text you when I get home,” Nikki said, turning back to Max. “And we can game tomorrow night?” Max and Neil had gotten Nikki into their favourite online MMO, and the three of them had taken to meeting up online and going on quests and raids together.

“I’m free,” Neil agreed.

“Okay. Deal,” Max said with a nod. “Yeah. That sounds good.” He looked up, meeting their eyes properly again instead of through a thick layer of curls. “I’ll see you soon?”

“Definitely,” Neil and Nikki both said. Nikki hoisted on her backpack, and then they hooked their arms through the handles on their baggage and Max helped them pick up their pumpkins.

“Bye Max!” Nikki called over her shoulder as she boarded. Then, looking past him, “Bye David! Bye Gwen!”

“Bye!” Neil hollered, waving over Nikki’s head. “Later Max!”

“Bye guys,” Max answered, waving back and swallowing as they disappeared from view.

He watched for a few minutes as people trickled in and out of the train doors, and then eventually the doors shut and the train pulled out of the station. He couldn’t see Neil and Nikki through the tinted windows, but he watched the car they had boarded until it was out of sight. Then, with a long, quiet sigh, he turned around and headed back to Gwen and David.

“Ready to go home, man?” Gwen asked.

“Yeah,” he answered softly.

 

David was quiet during the drive home, absorbed in thought. After Gwen had dragged him away on the platform, she had explained, smiling gently, that Max had wanted to say goodbye to Neil and Nikki without them hanging over his head while he did it. “He’s embarrassed,” she’d pointed out. “You know he doesn’t like to show affection. He just wants a private minute. Pretty sure that’s _super_ normal at his age.”

David felt badly that he hadn’t caught onto that more quickly. Sometimes, he had to admit, he _could_ be oblivious. Now, glancing every so often in the rear view mirror to see Max slumped against the car window, it was obvious the boy was sad. It wasn’t like he couldn’t understand that – he himself had always been _terrible_ at goodbyes. But, he supposed, he had always had more friends waiting for him on the other side of his long journeys growing up. He had rarely been left as alone as Max must feel right now.

When they got home, Max yawned and told them he was probably going to turn in a little early before he disappeared into his bedroom. Gwen went to her chair in the living room, and David followed and sat restlessly next to her. It didn’t take long for her to glance up. “You wanna go talk to him?” she asked knowingly, closing her book with one finger in the page.

“Yeah,” he admitted, putting down his phone. “But I don’t want to crowd him. You think I should wait for tomorrow?”

She shook her head. “No, I think now is the right time. Tomorrow he’ll already be putting it behind him and he won’t want to think about it any more.”

David nodded. “That makes sense.” Getting to his feet, he glanced down and added, “Thanks Gwen.”

“That’s what I’m here for,” she told him with a slight smile, already turning back to her book.

David went to the kitchen to pour a glass of water, then crossed to Max’s door. It was slightly ajar, so he poked his head into the room. Max was in bed, looking at something on his iPod, only the small lamp on his bedside table still turned on. “Hey Max,” David greeted, trying to keep his voice soft. “I noticed you didn’t come grab a glass of water before heading in here, so…”

“Oh,” Max said, looking up. “Um, thanks.”

“No problem.” David slipped into the room, pushing the door to behind him. He put the glass down on Max’s bedside and then sat gingerly on the edge of the mattress. “You know… I always had a rough time saying goodbye to friends, shuttling back and forth between home and camp every summer when I was around your age,” he said slowly, looking down at where his hands rested on his knees. “But, you know, it was always so great when I saw them again the next time.”

There was a long silence, and David didn’t look at Max, but he imagined the boy was trying to decide whether to be snarky or just outright dismissive. Finally, in a very small, frustrated voice, Max asked, “And what if there isn’t a next time?”

Something twisted violently deep in David’s gut, but he took a breath and realized that Max was only expressing his nerves about what was still a very precarious living situation. He wasn’t afraid someone was going to _die_. He just didn’t know if he’d get to stay there in the long term, he didn’t know what the future held in any way. That made David sad in a different way. “There will be,” he said confidently, suspecting that Max relied a little bit on his militant optimism in times like this, despite what he may say to the contrary. “And, uh, you know, even if there isn’t, you’ll survive it. I promise.” He closed his eyes for a second, swallowing. “But there’s no reason to think you won’t see them again. And you can talk to them every day in the meantime. That’s not nothing.”

There was another pause, and David heard Max sigh.

“Did you ask them to talk to their parents about the winter break?” David asked.

“What?”

“Winter break,” David repeated, finally turning and looking down at him. Now Max looked more confused than upset. “That’s when we’ll have them over next, I assume. You should talk to them about it soon so they can check with their parents and try to coordinate things for a longer stay, don’t you think?”

“Seriously?” Max asked.

“Yeah, of course,” David answered. “It was fun having them around. I figured you’d already be chomping at the bit for another opportunity.”

A smile pulled at one corner of Max’s mouth, despite his attempts to hide it. “Okay. I’ll text them about it now.”

David watched as Max woke up his iPod again, and then he glanced at the clock on the bedside as the boy typed a message. “Hey, it’s _really_ early to be packing it in already,” he pointed out slowly. “Normally I’d be all for it, especially since it’s a school night, but, y’know… you wanna do something instead?”

“Like what?” Max asked, lifting an eyebrow as he glanced up from his screen.

David chewed his lip for a second. “Well, Gwen said she had a racing game that wasn’t too violent that she’d teach me to play…”

Max pushed himself up, grinning now. “Oh, man. David, I’m gonna kick your _ass_.”


	11. Nightmares and Blanket Forts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gwen and David offer some comfort after Max has a rough night, and Max gets David hooked on Animal Crossing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! This chapter is shortish but hopefully you'll enjoy it! The next one is mostly done and I'm gonna try to post it before October is over - it's a chapter I really, really love (:
> 
> Okay, that's all! Love you lots, enjoy the chapter!

Max woke with an inarticulate yell.

Sitting up hard in bed, he only shouted for a second before it died in his throat, his hands clawing at the covers. He took a few deep, desperate breaths, his mind still half in the dream.

Gwen burst into the room, wide-eyed and alarmed, only one side of her housecoat pulled on over her pyjamas. “What’s wrong?” she gasped breathlessly.

Max looked up at her, still breathing heavily. “I–” But there were no words on his tongue. “I–”

Her arms, thrown wide when she came in the door, began to lower, understanding dawning on her tired face. “Oh, buddy,” she said softly, shrugging her other arm into her housecoat as she crossed to his bed. He stared at her, still tongue-tied and frightened, as she sat down facing him and pulled him into her arms.

He let go of the blanket and dug his fingers deep into the soft terrycloth of her robe, burying his face in her shoulder, still trying so hard to breathe. All he seemed capable of was hiccupping and hyperventilating, sitting there shaking in his bed wondering why his thoughts wouldn’t come clearly.

Why was he shaking so badly?

Why was her robe so wet against his face?

Oh–

“It was only a dream, Max,” Gwen said softly, even as he was still trying to form the word ‘dream’ in his mind. She rubbed his back, a firm, comforting hand against his spine. Somehow, it helped. “You’re fine, you’re safe. You’re safe here with me. I promise.”

His hands twisted even further into the fabric as he fought hard to retrieve his grip on reality, to shake off the adrenaline of the nightmare. She held him close – not tight, but firm – and he could feel her chest rise and fall. He tried to match the pace of her breaths, tried to stop gasping. Slowly, he began to come back to himself, eyes drying as he calmed. “Fuck,” he murmured quietly into her shoulder, all but the slightest impression of a sound muffled by her housecoat.

“You okay?” Gwen asked.

He nodded.

“You wanna talk about it?”

He shook his head.

“Okay.” He hadn’t let go yet, and so neither did she. “I’m here for as long as you need me.”

He nodded again.

Max aggressively avoided thinking about the actual content of his dream. He didn’t need that playing over and over in his mind all day – the sooner he stopped thinking about it the sooner he’d forget it properly. Instead he grounded himself solidly in the sensations of the moment, focussing wholly on the cloth folded between his fingers, the hand on his back, their matched breathing. The sound of the occasional morning bird outside his window. The smell of Gwen’s hair, not yet washed. The taste of sleep in his mouth.

“I’m okay,” he finally said, slowly releasing her robe from his intense grip. He didn’t meet her eye as she gently pulled away; he was already embarrassed of himself.

“You’re sure?” she asked.

He nodded quickly, shuffling back a few inches in his bed.

“Okay.” She glanced at the clock on his bedside and sighed. “I’m gonna go have a shower, I guess. You can grab another twenty minutes of sleep if you want, or you can just get up now.”

“…I don’t want to go back to sleep,” he said, pulling his blankets into his lap self-consciously.

“That’s fair,” Gwen said. “I’ll be ten minutes, okay?”

“Yeah.”

 

 

Max’s day felt long, but if he was being fair, school days _always_ felt long. As usual, Gwen picked him up in the afternoon and they walked home together. He was quiet, but she didn’t pry, which he appreciated. Back at the apartment he tagged along with her to the laundry room and they sat and read side-by-side on an ancient, flattened sofa while they waited for their clothes to be clean.

After David got home from work that evening, Gwen took his car and went out to go to an appointment and run some errands. Max and David ate dinner alone, a quiet meal of simple grilled cheese sandwiches, and then David set up his laptop on the kitchen table and got to work answering some emails and things while Max left to occupy himself in the living room. By the time David emerged an hour later, the apartment was quiet.

Curious, David went to the end of the hallway and then finally saw where Max must be hiding. Around the corner, Max had pushed David and Gwen’s armchairs around until they sat a few feet apart, facing away from each other; Max’s throw blanket and the knitted blanket David kept on the couch-bed were thrown over the backs of the chairs to form a tent. The coffee table was pulled close as well, a stack of Gwen’s old textbooks piled on top to serve as another corner to the fort and extend its space.

“Max?” David asked softly. “You in there?”

“Where else would I be?” was the muffled reply, his tone clearly conveying that David was as stupid as ever for bothering to ask.

“Looks pretty cozy,” David observed, tipping his head to one side in thought. The quietness of Max’s behaviour struck him as just a little bit odd.

“Yeah,” Max responded. “I have all my pillows in here. It’s comfy.”

“You all right in there?”

“…I’m fine,” Max said crankily, but he hesitated just a fraction of a second too long, and that was enough. David nodded to himself.

He considered for a moment, wondering what his best approach was, and then tried, “Can I bring you anything? Popcorn? Flashlight?”

“No.” A beat, and then a flap of the blanket structure moved, Max’s hand poking out for a moment to show the entrance. “This is a stupid way to have a conversation. Just come inside.”

David, touched, got down on his hands and knees and nudged his way carefully into the fort. Max had built a little nest out of all the pillows from his bed and the throws from the living room, and was scooting back into the far corner to make room. David pulled himself up, folded his knees up against his chest, and hunched down over them, smiling in the dim light provided by Max’s iPod and idling DS. A little more came in through the blankets, but not much.

“I like it,” David said, looking around. “Been too long since I’ve been in a proper blanket fort. This is a nice one. Very Max.”

“Yeah, yeah. Like it’s any different from a tent.” Max rolled his eyes, trying to keep up the grumpy façade. Then he sighed and flopped backwards into the pillows behind him, tucking his hands into his hoodie pocket and staring up at the blanket roof.

“What’s on your mind, Max?” David asked.

Max was quiet a few moments, lips pursed, and David worked hard to be patient. “Nikki told me she feels better when she builds a fort to hang out in,” he blurted after a long pause. “I just figured I’d try it.”

“Is something bothering you?” David nudged a little further. He was trying to strike a balance between pushing Max too hard – a strategy he had, eventually, learned rarely worked – and actually encouraging a little communication.

“Gwen didn’t tell you?” Max asked, sounding mildly surprised.

David shook his head. “She didn’t mention anything that I’d expect to be getting to you like this, no,” he answered.

Max sighed, turning his head to stare at the blanket wall, away from David. He fidgeted slightly, seemingly torn on responding, and then finally said, “I had a nightmare this morning.”

“Oh, Max,” David said, before remembering to pull back a little, not smother him. Affection with Max only seemed to work when the boy came looking for it himself. David had _finally_ started to figure that out a couple summers ago, that night outside the Sleepy Peak diner, when Max had quickly hugged his legs. “And it’s still on your mind, huh?”

Max nodded slightly, still facing away. “It was bad. Gwen came in because she heard me when I woke up.”

“Do you want to tell me about it?” David tried.

Max shrugged, then shook his head more decisively. “No. She asked that too.”

David bit his lip. He wanted so _badly_ to push a little, to get the boy to open up. That seemed like the thing to do – with most kids, it _would_ be the thing to do. He knew it was what his mother had to do with him when he was little. And he wanted Max to trust him that much – he wanted that more than just about anything. But that wasn’t how this was going to work. “Can… can I do anything to help?” he asked slowly, hoping that was a better approach.

Max was silent for a moment or two, his head eventually turning again. He didn’t quite look at David, just went back to staring up at the fort ceiling. David waited as patiently as he knew how, but he was just about to open his mouth and say something else when Max spoke, very, very softly.

“Tell me I’m safe here,” he whispered. “And I never have to go back home.”

David nearly dissolved, his heart breaking. “You’re _always_ safe here, Max. You’re as safe as can be,” he promised, voice suddenly thick. “And you _are_ home. This is your home, and you never have to go anywhere else, especially not back to your parents.”

Max nodded a little, eyes fixed on the blankets above him, and David could see them watering. His own eyes were fairly wet, themselves. Max sniffed and took a deep breath, finally shifting to glance over at him. “Oh, don’t _cry_ over it, dumbass,” he complained, wiping his sleeve quickly across his eyes and frowning. He wasn’t going to acknowledge whatever it was that had just passed between them. “And you look stupid, all hunched over by the low side. Get in here.” He took a pillow from somewhere beneath him and set it down beside his head, patting it gruffly.

David smiled widely and blinked back his tears. “Well, all right,” he agreed, nodding. He crawled a little closer to the boy, then rolled and laid back against the pillow, parallel to Max with his legs still bent up to fit. There were only a couple inches of space between them, but Max didn’t complain.

“What’ve you been up to in here?” David asked after a moment or two, hands folded over his stomach, casting the boy a sideways glance.

“Mostly playing Pokémon,” Max answered, picking up his DS again. “I know, I know. You don’t love it. The animal fighting makes you uneasy.”

David offered something between a grin and a grimace, sheepish. “Sorry, Max. I don’t mean to take the fun out of it for you.”

“Believe me, you don’t.” Max tapped through a menu, saving his game, and then exiting. He chewed one lip for a moment, then said, “Have you ever heard of Animal Crossing?”

David shook his head. “What is it?”

“It’s a game. One you’d probably love.” Max rolled onto his hands and knees, digging for something David couldn’t see in the nest of pillows. “I have an old copy I almost never play.” He produced and unzipped a small bag full of game cartridges, switching out the one in his DS for another. Then, booting up the game and starting a new save file, he laid back down next to David – even closer this time, David thought with a shock of affection and tenderness – and held out the device. “Here.”

“Oh! Okay,” David said in surprise, accepting the game and stylus carefully. “How do I start?”

“The instructions are right there onscreen, dummy,” Max groused, pointing. He squirmed in a little further, his head bumping David’s shoulder as he shifted to see the screen better. “Just do what it says.”

 

“Sorry I’m so late getting back, guys,” Gwen called out as she came in the door later that evening and simultaneously kicked off her shoes, shed her jacket, and dumped a couple of shopping bags and her purse on the floor. “Traffic was bonkers down by the salon, and then I ran into Sanjay and Indira and we got chatting and one thing led to another led to a coffee shop, and…” She trailed off, stepping a little further into the apartment. “Where the fuck are you two?”

“Gwen!” came David’s voice, muffled. “You’re home! You should come join us!”

“What?” Stepping into the living room, she finally understood. David’s head poked out the gap between two blankets, grinning broadly. “Oh my god, you _geeks_ ,” she laughed.

“Come inside!” David told her. “We can make room!”

“What are you two even _doing?_ ” she asked, still amused, as she crouched down and held up the flap to peek inside the fort. David was sitting back down, scooting back, and beckoning to her to come in. Max was on the left, hand in a bag of pretzels.

“We’re playing Animal Crossing!” David said excitedly. “It’s such a lovely game!”

“You’ve played Animal Crossing, right, Gwen?” Max asked, frowning in irritation. “Would you please tell this loser that red dragonflies are nothing special to catch? He’s driving me insane.”

“But dragonflies are so _pretty_ , Max!” David protested.

Gwen snorted, crawling inside to sit with them. “I don’t know what I expected to come home to, or why it wasn’t something exactly like this,” she said, “But you two are a couple of nerds.”

“Listen,” Max defended, “Animal Crossing is clearly the Davidest game _ever_.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” she responded. “What about Harvest Moon?”

“What’s that?” David asked, perking up.

Ignoring him for a moment, Gwen continued, “Or imagine if we installed Stardew Valley on his laptop.”

Max stared at her, eyes widening. “We’d never get him back,” he said, horrified.

“Right?” Gwen giggled. “Dang, now I’m really tempted.”

 

David had already turned in for the night – after all, he had to get up pretty early for work – when, around ten, Max’s bedroom door opened quietly and the boy padded into the living room. David, rousing from being mostly asleep already, lifted his head. “Max?” he asked softly.

The boy stood still for a moment, and he was hard to see in the dark, but David got the sense that he was deliberating a little. “I can’t sleep,” he said finally, in a very small voice.

David pushed himself up a little further. “Because of this morning’s nightmare?” he asked. After Max had gone to bed an hour or so ago, Gwen had told David more of what had happened. Neither of them knew what he’d dreamt about – and they weren’t going to ask again – but it was clear it had distressed him a lot.

Max nodded, barely visible.

“What can I do to help?” David prompted after a quiet moment.

There was a long pause, Max shifting from one foot to the other restlessly. Then he managed to ask, in a strangled sort of way, “Can I sleep out here? I don’t… I don’t want to be alone.”

“Of course,” David answered immediately, sitting up. He patted the mattress next to him. Oh, that was what Max was holding – it was his pillow, clutched against his chest. The boy didn’t move immediately. David bit his tongue a moment, wondering if it was safe to push, and then added, “You don’t want to be alone tonight, or in general?”

“…Both,” Max said finally, scarcely more than a whisper.

“You don’t have to be,” David assured him.

Max swallowed audibly, then finally crossed the space between them, rounding the mattress and climbing up on the other side. Wordlessly, he scooted his way under the covers, lying on his side so that he faced away from David, towards the balcony. David looked down at him for a moment or two longer before laying back down himself.

After a minute or two of silence, Max breathed, “Do you ever have nightmares?”

“I used to have them a lot,” David told him. “Luckily they’re not so bad any more. Only once in a while, and I know how to handle them now.”

“What made them get better?” Max asked.

“Time,” David said. “And growing up in general. Some therapy, and some sedatives, too. I used to have pretty bad insomnia, and issues with restless sleep. I’m off the prescription meds now, but I still use over-the-counter stuff sometimes.”

“Really?” Max shifted, and for a moment David thought he might roll over to face him, but he didn’t. David looked back to the ceiling.

“Yeah. Melatonin usually does the trick, mostly.” He knitted his fingers over his chest. “But I’ve been where you are. And all I can say, I guess, is that the nightmares are all in your head, and they’re not at all true. Nothing in them is real – they’re just your brain burning off stress and anxiety. When you wake up, you’ll be here, with us, and you’ll be safe. I promise.”

Max squirmed slightly, folding in on himself, wrapping his arms tight around his pillow. He was quiet for a moment or two again, before finally asking, “How can you be sure?”

“Because,” David answered. “I, personally, won’t let anything happen to you. I won’t let anyone take you away from us until you’re ready to go. And I can tell you, Gwen won’t either. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but she’s stubborn as a mule.”

Max snorted, a sound halfway between tears and laughter. “Shut up. She’ll hear you, and then she’ll come out and kick both our asses.”

David chuckled lightly. “You’re right. I’ll be quiet.” After a second, he reached over and placed a hand on Max’s shoulder, gave him a quick squeeze, and then drew back. “Everything is okay, Max. You’re okay.”

“Okay,” Max answered softly.

“You think you can sleep?” David asked. “Or do you want a melatonin? It’s safe to take. Just like a vitamin.”

Max squirmed again, then nodded against his pillow. “Yeah, maybe that would help, actually,” he said.

“You got it. I’ll go grab one. Just a minute, pal.” David pushed back the blanket and got up to go to the bathroom and fetch the bottle from the medicine cabinet. A moment later he returned with the pill. “Just stick it under your tongue and let it melt. It should help within twenty or thirty minutes.”

“Thanks, David,” Max said, so quietly it was barely audible.

“Any time, Max,” David answered. “Sweet dreams, buddy.”


	12. A Day in the Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David does the rounds, Max makes a friend, and Gwen has a creepy admirer at the bookstore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's got some scenes in it that I really really love... I hope you do too (8 Keeping busy with NaNoWriMo this month but hopefully you'll see another chapter or two before November is over - the next one is almost done and the one after that is in the works. We'll see!

At eight AM David’s Thursday was already well underway, his truck packed to the brim with postage and his travel mug full of tea. He was noticing lately that some of the people along his route were starting to recognise him, which was lovely. One or two had even memorised his name. He whistled as he walked, distributing envelopes and small packages into mailboxes, occasionally taking a package up to someone’s door and offering treats to the dogs that sometimes greeted him. How many people he actually spoke to in a day could vary quite a lot, but the weather was still nice, and that was enough to keep him happy.

His first break of the day was around 10:30. He parked just outside a little cul-de-sac, pulling a muffin out of his lunch bag and sitting back to check his phone. There was a text from Gwen: _We have a sitter set for next week. Name is Katja. Cross your fingers… third time’s the charm?_ He bit his lip, concerned. He didn’t want to worry yet – after all, the right sitter was probably hard to find sometimes, and this _was_ only the third – but then, the last two had both been quite rattled by the time they left. Hopefully Katja would be a little tougher.

After finishing his snack, David promptly got back to work. There was a long row of townhouses along this street, tall narrow red-brick homes with wrought-iron fences and fire escapes covered in ivy. He liked the neighbourhood; it had a certain charm. The house on the end was Joe’s, and there was a package to deliver – a big, flat square box. David was already fishing a treat out of his pocket for Murphy when Joe opened the door.

“David!” There was always a big, bright smile in the middle of that round dark face when he came for his mail. “What’ve you brought me today?”

“I don’t know, Joe,” David laughed, straightening up after patting Murphy’s head. He held out the box. “ _I’m_ not allowed to open your mail.”

Joe took the package and glanced at the label, then nodded in satisfaction. “Been expecting these for a while! Had to order them all the way from Germany.” Glancing up at David’s bemused expression, he grinned and added, “Records. That’s what you’re usually bringing me.”

“Ah, okay,” David said with a nod. “That makes sense.”

Joe tucked the box under his arm and leaned forward, peering at David’s face. “You’re looking a bit tired, boy. What’s wearing you down?”

“Oh!” David straightened up, flashing an awkward grin. “Sorry. Um, it’s nothing, don’t worry.”

“Oh, come on, take a quick load off, David,” Joe pestered him good-naturedly. “Tell me what’s on your mind. You’ll feel better!”

“Well…” David rubbed his elbow, but the big man’s friendly-stern expression was hard to resist. “Ah, it’s Max. The little guy?” He waved a hand around the height of Max’s head. “We’re trying to find a sitter for him for when we go out one night a week, but he’s kind of… uh, crushing them. I-I mean – he says he’s been doing his best to behave, and I believe him, but even then he’s a challenge. It took Gwen and I a few years to get used to his… attitudes.”

Joe leaned one shoulder against the doorframe. “Well, not to insert myself into your little life, David, but if you’d like, you could try me sometime,” he offered slowly. “I’m pretty tough, myself.”

David paused, taken by surprise. “Oh! W-well that’s very kind of you, Joe, but Max is a foster kid, right, so he’s only allowed to stay with sitters approved by the agency. We’ve been hiring from a service they recommended us, we just… haven’t found the right person yet.”

Joe grinned. “Well, I figure they’d be willing to approve me, given that I was a foster parent myself for about twenty years.”

David blinked, then lit up. “Really! I had no idea!”

The old man nodded. “I had all sorts of kids through here over the years. Some of ‘em even more difficult than your boy Max, I’d bet. I’m sure I could handle him.”

David tipped his head, considering that. “Well! We’ve already booked a sitter for next week, but… well, if she doesn’t work out, perhaps I could take you up on the offer,” he said. “I’d have to talk to Gwen about it, of course, but it’s certainly a possibility. And I know Max liked Murphy a lot.”

“Hang on a second,” Joe told him, slipping back inside. David watched from the open door as the man put his package down on the stairs and then rummaged in a crowded hall table for a pen and a pad of sticky notes. He scribbled something down and then returned to the door, handing the note to David. “Here. My phone number. You chat with your lady and if the two of you want to give it a try, call me up. I’m usually home. In the meantime I’ll call up the agency and see what I can do about becoming an ‘approved’ sitter. Make things a little easier on you folks.”

“Well, thank you! That’s very kind of you!” David folded the note and tucked it into his pocket, next to his phone. “I should move along, but it was good to chat with you, Joe. You were right, I do feel better.”

“Told you,” the man said cheerfully. “Have a good day, David. I’ll see you soon, I’m sure.”

 

Max was a few weeks in and definitely still not a big fan of school. Not that he ever had been. It was weird to be somewhere new, where he really didn’t know anyone and his newness stuck out like a sore thumb.

“Parent-teacher interviews have been delayed again due to the teachers’ union strike,” Mr. Hastings was rattling, passing newsletters out to each student. One landed on Max’s desk, but he was barely paying attention. “However, I’ve included a phone number on this bulletin that your parents are welcome to call me at if they have any concerns, and I’ll try to lend a hand…”

Parents.

Max was tired of that word.

English was boring, he had long ago established. He couldn’t get invested in the book they were reading. He wasn’t a big reader at the best of times, but a book all about a sad kid whose parents were dead? That was a little beyond his reach right now. Mr. Hastings hadn’t spoken to him directly about it, but seemed to understand Max’s detachment. Max guessed that was a good thing, but he kind of wished not to be acknowledged at all where that was concerned.

Science wasn’t so bad. They had that in a different classroom, and he sat next to Alise, who was interesting. He didn’t feel he had quite made _friends_ yet, but there was definitely common ground. She liked to cause trouble, and she was smart as a whip. In a way she reminded him of both Neil and Nikki – undoubtedly a genius (particularly in science, which made her an even better desk buddy), but also out mainly to create chaos, more than anything else. And unlike a lot of their peers, she didn’t seem to judge him for being new. Back in his first week there, when he told Marco Chiarelli – class jerk – to go take a nap under the front wheels of a bus, she had caught his eye and nodded approvingly. They hadn’t talked often since, but there seemed to be an unspoken respect between them.

That morning in particular she seemed to be in a suspiciously good mood. The two of them sat in the back of the classroom, and as Ms. Delaney turned her attention to a dull fill-in-the-blank activity on an ancient overhead projector, Alise leaned over slightly. “Hey,” she hissed. “I need an extra pair of hands on a little project of mine. You want in?”

Max hesitated. His instinct was a strong _yes_ , even if he wasn’t used to being a number two – because god, he was bored. It had been ages since he’d had a chance to stir up some shit. But… “How big a project? I’ve got shit on the line if I get caught.”

She looked at him out of the corner of her eye, and he had a feeling she might be able to guess what _kind_ of shit he had on the line. He knew there were rumours about him, where he’d come from, why he’d started the year late. He was also pretty sure she was smart enough to see through those to something approximating the truth, and while he wasn’t wild about that, he did appreciate her seeming to get a sense of what was going on without him having to actually _explain_ it. “We won’t,” she assured him. “But even if we do, it won’t be both of us – just me. You’ll be somewhere else. And I’ll take the fall alone.” She spat on her palm and held it out, an unspoken promise.

Max eyed her hand for a second. A couple of years ago he wouldn’t have been impressed, but Nikki did spit-oaths often enough he had gotten used to it by now. Glancing back up at the girl’s expectant face, he grinned, spat, and shook. “Count me in, then.”

“Excellent.” She grinned back, orange eyes sparkling.

 

Gwen was already ready to go home by the time her shift started at eleven. They only needed her in for a few hours to help keep things running smoothly while some stock issues were being dealt with, but after spending half an hour on the phone with the babysitting agency and then another twenty minutes on the phone with her mother, searching for every excuse that her parents still shouldn’t come visit, she was wiped. She had no desire to spend her precious time on the sales floor at work, counting books.

Luckily the store was pretty quiet for the afternoon, and she was able to get through her inventory work fairly quickly – only a few customers even spoke to her. She was beginning to think she’d gotten off easy for the day when someone approached her from the far end of the aisle, fifteen minutes before her shift was over. She glanced up out of the corner of her eye, then groaned internally, pausing in her work. She recognised him, and she _didn’t_ want to speak to him. She returned to her counting with renewed intensity, hoping futilely that he wouldn’t want to interrupt her.

She wasn’t sure how old the guy was. Thirty, maybe, give or take a year or two. Tall and square, but not in an appealing way. Fair-skinned with badly-cut mousy hair and dark eyes. He’d been in the store a lot lately, which in itself wasn’t an issue, but he’d recently taken a strong liking to Gwen, and was rather untoward about it. It was starting to get genuinely unpleasant to deal with him, and she willed him not to talk to her today, though she knew it was hopeless.

“Hi, Gwen,” he greeted, already leaning in too close. “How are you today?”

“Fine,” she said tersely, bracing herself and not looking up from her work. _Beep_ , went the device in her hand as she scanned another barcode. _Beep_. “Busy.”

“Of course, of course. What are you working on?” He leaned in a fraction further, looking at the book in her hand.

She frowned, scanned the book, slotted it back into place. Paused to rearrange a few in a series that had gotten mixed up. “Inventory.”

He nodded. After a beat, he said, “Why don’t you smile more? You have such a nice smile.”

She swallowed her irritation and glanced quickly up at the clock on the wall by the cash. Twelve more minutes. With a normal customer, she could probably get away with ‘I have to go, can I find another employee to help you out?’ But she didn’t want to tell him she was leaving – it crossed her mind that he might follow her out of the store, and that was _deeply_ unsettling. Instead she slapped on the lowest-effort smile she had. “Sorry. I’m concentrating.”

“Mm.” She could smell his breath. It wasn’t bad, but she really didn’t want _any_ customer close enough to her to smell his breath. “I wondered if you could help me find something, Gwen?”

“What are you looking for?” she asked, as uninterested as possible.

“Well, I was looking for a copy of Infinite Jest. By David Foster Wallace?  I’ve read it, of course, but I found out a friend of mine hasn’t, and his birthday is coming up…”

Gwen did her best to resist the shivers that crawled up her spine. Nope, nope, nope. She couldn’t do this. Thinking on her feet, she discreetly adjusted her grip on the scanner and held the power button down until the screen went blank. “Oh, no,” she said. “Batteries are dead. Um, try fiction, under W. You should find it there. I’ve got to go get new batteries in this and finish up this aisle before the boss comes around to check on me again.” She tossed him a vaguely apologetic smile, waving her free hand towards the fiction section and then taking off before he could say anything else.

Rushing through the staff door, she drew a deep breath and glanced around. “Heyyy, Vikram,” she greeted a coworker, offering him a pleading grin. “That creepy guy is out there again, and my shift ends in ten minutes. Can you spot me?” She held out the scanner. “I was in the eight to twelve section. Just finished the Ys.”

Vikram gave her a sympathetic nod. “Yeah, I got you,” he answered, taking the scanner. He was a geeky-looking nineteen-year-old, and one of Gwen’s favourite coworkers – a really good kid, and someone she could usually depend on in spots like this. “You might as well take off. You owe me ten minutes though.” He was half-joking. He probably wouldn’t hold her to it if she resisted, but she’d pay him back anyway, because he was one of the few people in the store who consistently did her favours without complaint.

“You’re a life-saver,” she told him gratefully. “I’ll see you Saturday, right?”

“Yep. Hurry up and get outta here and you might even catch the bus that gets you to your kid on time instead of late.” He waved her away, already halfway through the door to the sales floor.

“He’s not my kid!” she reminded him casually, already yanking her coat off its hook on the wall.

 

Jill was sitting on her front step, eyes shut, apparently just enjoying the warmth of the sunshine, when David walked up the little front path of her duplex. “Good afternoon,” he greeted, hoping he wouldn’t startle her. Her eyes popped open and she smiled, hopping up to her feet.

“Oh! Hi David!” she answered. “How are you today?”

“I’m doing well, and you?” he asked pleasantly. He handed her a stack of mail.

“I’m good! Have the day off and thought I’d just come outside for a few minutes and enjoy the weather,” she said. “So nice for October, isn’t it?”

“It’s gorgeous,” he agreed. “Great day for my job, certainly.”

Jill tucked her arms behind her back and swayed slightly, her lightweight skirt ruffling in the breeze. “So, I’ve been meaning to ask you something,” she started, smiling. David raised his eyebrows and waited, curious. “When are you going to come out sometime and meet all of Gwen’s and my friends? She promised she’d bring you to one of our bar nights sometime, but I haven’t heard from her much lately. We miss her, and I’ve been looking forward to the chance to get to know you better!”

“Oh!” David looked surprised. “Well, I’m not sure. We’re still trying to nail down a good sitter for Max… hard to leave him alone, you know. But I’ll mention it to Gwen, and maybe we can try to keep it in mind.”

“Okay!” she answered, brushing a strand of blonde hair off her face. “Everyone’s been itching to meet you, you know. So far I’m still the only one who’s been so lucky!”

He smiled. “Yeah, I’m sorry. We’ve just been really busy. We’re getting by, though. Hopefully we can make some time soon!”

“I’ll cross my fingers for you!” she told him cheerfully.

 

Max sat in the windowsill of a rarely-used second-storey classroom, snickering to himself as he piloted a remote control helicopter around the schoolyard and shot darts at Marco’s head. Down below, Alise his in a bush with her phone in her hands, doing a quite remarkable job of making it look like she was the culprit. It was at least ten minutes of shooting at Marco, and then at the teachers he went and complained to, before they spotted Alise in her hideout. Her phone was confiscated, and he watched her plead her case to the teachers for a few moments before he swooped the helicopter down towards them again, shooting another dart at the back of the lecturing Spanish teacher’s head. Max cackled as the woman swung around, waving her arms defensively, and then watched in confusion as the helicopter zipped away out of reach once again.

Most of the recess passed like this, with Max diving the helicopter into view, shooting someone, and then piloting back out of anyone’s reach, while the teachers below continued to lecture Alise, who was clearly an excellent actor – her innocent face never broke. Her phone was searched, but of course, no remote app was found. As the end of recess approached, the phone was reluctantly returned, and Alise continued to act like she had no idea what was going on. When the bell rang, Max carefully landed the helicopter in their agreed-upon location on top of the portable, then stuffed the remote in his hoodie pocket and raced back downstairs to mingle with the students coming in from recess. Stowing the remote carefully in his backpack – he would give it back to Alise after school, just in case her belongings were searched again – he gave her a sly high-five before they returned to class.

It was a small prank, certainly, and Max was more accustomed to being the mastermind than the second mate, but it felt good to be a troublemaker again. And it felt, good, too, to share that conspiratorial grin with Alise across the classroom. Maybe they were making friends after all.

Now he had to practice his ‘it was a normal, boring day’ face to show to Gwen and David when he got home.

 

“How was your day at school, Max?” David asked cheerfully, plunking an ice cube into the boy’s chicken noodle soup before placing it on the table.

Max, already sprinkling crushed soda crackers on top of his meal, merely shrugged. “Nothing special,” he grunted. “Same old same old.”

“You had science today, didn’t you?” David asked. “Have you made better friends with that girl Alise?”

Max rolled his eyes. “I shouldn’t have even told you about her,” he muttered. “I dunno. We don’t talk a lot, but we get along fine.”

“That’s lovely!” Having served Gwen, David slid into his seat next to her on the long side of the table. “How about you, Gwen? How was work?”

She shrugged as well, blowing steam off a spoonful of broth. “Fine, I guess,” she said. “Inventory is kind of boring, but it was a quick afternoon, at least. Quiet day. Nothing especially remarkable until that creepy guy at the end.”

David paused, spoon halfway up to his mouth. Turning to look at her, he asked, “Creepy guy?”

“Oh, have I not mentioned him?” she asked, glancing up. “It’s not a big deal, it’s just this weird guy who comes into the store a lot and hits on me. I can usually manage to get Vikram or Caleb to take him over, though. Vikram’ll even warn me if he sees him come in.”

David frowned, his spoon sinking forgotten back into his bowl. “That’s… that’s not good,” he said, working to control the unpleasant bit of _something_ flaring in his chest. “Have you mentioned it to your manager?”

“I mean, the guy hasn’t really done anything _wrong_ ,” she pointed out, shrugging again. She dipped a soda cracker in her soup and took a bite. “He’s just asked me for way more help than he could possibly need and proven little understanding of personal space. Nothing that, at this point, is worth throwing him out of the store over.” Glancing up and catching David’s expression, she said, “Really, it’s not a big deal. Just annoying. It happens.”

David, bothered by that, glanced over at Max, whose expression was sour. “He’s kept his hands to himself?” the boy asked abruptly, his tone dark.

Gwen looked at him in surprise. “Yeah, like I said, he hasn’t done anything major. He’s just… just your run of the mill, garden variety creep.”

“Hmph.” Aggressively, Max crushed another soda cracker, dumping the crumbs into his bowl.

 

On Saturday, Gwen was up earlier than usual, out of the house for work. She wasn’t often in during the day on weekends, but someone was on medical leave and she was helping fill in. David and Max slept in as usual, then spent the day cleaning, doing laundry, and reading – Max had school reading to catch up on, and David had picked up a New York wildlife guide he was just devouring. Around four in the afternoon, they climbed into David’s car and went to pick Gwen up from work.

They pulled into the parking lot a few minutes early, and David drummed his fingers on the wheel for a moment before saying, “You want to go inside and look around?”

Max considered that for a minute. “Yeah, why not,” he agreed finally, shrugging. “Might as well, I guess.”

Inside the store they wandered the aisles, half-looking for Gwen. David paused to look at a rack of nature magazines, and Max’s attention was briefly held by a display of novelty toys. Making their slow way towards the back of the store, they caught what sounded like Gwen’s voice. Glancing down an aisle full of comics, they saw her at the far end, cornered by a tall man who was definitely much too close to her. She was facing in their direction enough for them to catch the uncomfortable expression on her face. David stiffened, and Max frowned deeply.

“That’s gotta be the asshole she was talking about the other night, right?” Max said in a low voice.

“I hate him,” David answered immediately, with surprising vehemence. Max glanced up at him in surprise for a second, then shook his head and returned his attention to the matter at hand.

“…She hasn’t mentioned anything about what kind of car he drives or anything, has she?” he asked after a second. Already reaching for the carabiner on David’s belt loop, from which his keys hung, he said, “If you keep him inside for a few minutes I could go out to the parking lot and key his car.”

David blinked, then quickly shook his head and pushed Max’s hands away. “No, Max,” he managed. “We– we don’t want to get Gwen in trouble.” He furrowed his brow. “Or you to get arrested.”

“Well then, how do _you_ propose we deal with this guy?” Max asked, irritated.

David frowned in thought for a moment, then looked back up at Gwen. After a few seconds, he wiped the anger off his face, going back to his usual hapless smile, and began to head down the aisle. Puzzled, Max followed close behind. David cheerfully began to browse the comics close behind the stranger, hanging conspicuously in Gwen’s view and looking up often. Max watched curiously, not sure if he knew what was going on.

Soon enough, David’s many glances caught Gwen’s eye. “Uh, sorry guys, I’ll – I’ll be done here in a minute,” she managed to say over the man’s shoulder.

The man, surprised, turned and saw David and Max behind him. David only offered a friendly smile and a little wave. “Take your time!”

Finally catching on, Max quickly fixed on a too-cheerful grin of his own and scampered over to Gwen like he didn’t know any better. “Are you almost done?” he asked, grabbing the hem of her shirt. It was a stretch for his age, but he also knew that at his height he could pass for a few years younger to most adults if they didn’t know any better. “I’m hungry, I wanna go home for dinner!”

“Oh, Max, don’t bother her while she’s working!” David said, beckoning the boy back. Looking up at the stranger, he smiled apologetically. “Don’t mind us,” he said. “We’re just here to pick her up when her shift’s done, there’s no rush.”

Glancing up at the man’s face, Max caught a confused frown and decided to lay it on even thicker. Tugging on the side of David’s jeans, he said, “You guys said if I was good today I could pick out a toy! Can I pick out a toy? What about _that_ one?” He pointed to a special edition comic on the top shelf that came boxed with an exclusive action figure.

“Now, buddy, that one might be a little expensive, even with the employee discount,” David answered, ruffling Max’s hair. “Why don’t we check out the ones near the front on our way out later? There were lots up there!” Grinning up at the stranger again, he shrugged and laughed, “Kids, right?”

The guy turned and glanced at Gwen again, and Max decided one more go ought to do the trick. Slipping out of David’s hold and approaching Gwen again, he wheedled, “Are you _sure_ I can’t get that one?”

Gwen was clearly still taken aback, but she’d had a moment to adjust and managed to play along. “He’s right, pal, that one’s a little pricey, even for me,” she told him, a little awkwardly. “But there’s a bunch of cool stuff up at the front we can look at together, okay?” As if unsure what to do with her hands, she smoothed a curl off his forehead and back into his hair.

“Aw,” Max answered, shoulders drooping in disappointment. “Well, okay…”

“Now I just have to finish up here,” she pointed out.

“Uh, i-it’s fine,” the man said, still frowning. He was not only confused but deeply uncomfortable at this point, and Max revelled in it, working hard not to grin. “I was just on my way out.” Without another word, he slipped past David, down the aisle, and out of sight.

Gwen let out a long breath, relieved. “Thanks, guys,” she told them, smiling a little.

“You should pull me out of school so I can be your creep-deterrent at work,” Max told her hopefully, finally letting that wicked grin spread across his face.

She snorted. “Not happening. Also, I feel like pretending to be my loving husband and son was going a little overboard, don’t you?” she laughed, rolling her eyes.

“Hey, you said it, not us,” Max pointed out. “We made no claims. We just talked and let him draw his own conclusions.” He glanced over his shoulder at David, who smiled back, a little self-satisfied.

She rolled her eyes good-naturedly. “Well, I appreciate it, I guess.”

“Hopefully it’ll be sufficient to convince him to leave you alone,” David said, shrugging one shoulder. “If not, you really _should_ talk to your boss about it.”

Max, not especially interested in _that_ conversation, had turned to the shelf and was scanning the titles on a bunch of the comics, looking for one that he’d seen Alise reading in class recently. The art had looked good, and the premise seemed interesting. Spotting the volume he was after, he pulled it out and thumbed through it curiously.

“Do you want it?” Gwen asked, startling him slightly. Trying to play it cool, he looked at her over his shoulder. “My discount would cover that one just fine.”

He shrugged a little. “I dunno. I mean, you don’t have to.”

“Consider it a thanks for rescuing me,” she told him, smiling as she took the book gently from his hand and glanced at the price on the back.

“You should really reconsider my offer to take it up full-time,” he answered cheekily.

“Keep dreaming, kid,” she scoffed. Handing the comic to David, she added, “I just gotta go get my coat and bag from the back room, and then we’ll grab this on the way out. Be right back.”

Max and David continued to idly browse the comics while they waited, and when she reappeared, the trio walked together towards the front of the store. Max, glancing around as they walked, happened to look up just in time to see Gwen lean over and kiss David sweetly on the cheek, smiling and bumping his arm with hers. David instantly turned a brilliant shade of red, and Gwen looked down and saw Max’s raised eyebrows.

“Creepo’s watching us from the philosophy aisle,” she said softly, her face still right next to David’s. “Looking a little skeptical. I’m just selling the act.”

“Right,” David squeaked.

“Jesus,” Max muttered to himself.

 

After dinner that evening, Max soon retreated to his bedroom to play some games online with Neil and Nikki, then read his comic for a while. David busied himself cleaning up from the meal, humming cheerfully as he washed the dishes and set them carefully in the dishrack to dry. Afterwards he went through the fridge and the cupboards, making himself a shopping list for tomorrow’s grocery run. Since he and Max both packed lunches, they were going through sandwich fixings at a pretty steady rate.

He was still tapping at the list on his phone when he emerged into the living room, where Gwen was curled up in her chair with her latest book. When he tucked his phone away and glanced up, he felt his breath catch in his throat: Gwen was cozied up quite comfortably in his favourite green-and-cream sweater, which he had discarded earlier to keep from getting the sleeves wet while he did the dishes. She was biting the end of her thumb, brows ever so slightly furrowed as she read, thoroughly engulfed in the whirlwind romance of a surly werewolf alpha and an independent pirate queen.

She was incredible.

David reminded himself to breathe.

Veering in the other direction, he headed for his bed, sitting cross-legged Indian-style on the mattress and reaching for his nature guide, since Max still had his laptop. Propping the book open in his lap, he tried intently for a moment to read, but that was hopeless. He stole another quick glance at Gwen, felt his heart melt, and looked back down at his book.

Oh, he realized, very suddenly. _Oh_. Oh, _dear_.

Well, it explained a lot, he surmised as he pretended to read and hoped that she wouldn’t look up and notice the warmth in his cheeks. Frankly, now that he reflected on it, he was surprised he hadn’t noticed sooner. He’d been busy, he supposed. Preoccupied with Max, and with the move to New York, and the new job, and the everything but himself. Normally he was a little more in tune with his own feelings.

He had always thought Gwen was beautiful. And he’d loved her for years – he’d never been shy about using that word with his friends; he had told her numerous times throughout their friendship that he loved her. But _this_ , this was different. Not that the potential hadn’t always been there – because it had, he was keenly aware; he’d just never really had the _time_ for it to develop this way. Camp Campbell kept them so damn busy, not to mention tired. But now, here, he was living with her, doing everything with her, and she had been his best friend for quite some time but suddenly those _potential_ feelings had grown into something much, much bigger while he left them unsupervised. Now…

His gaze darted up when she shifted slightly, reacting rather belatedly to his arrival in the room. “Did you want your sweater back?” she asked, not quite looking up from the page. “Sorry. I was cold, and it was right next to me…”

David quickly shook his head. “No, no, I’m fine. You can hang onto it for now.” Even to himself, he sounded a bit breathless.

She nodded absently. “Okay, thanks.”

He watched her – stared at her, really, and his heart was pounding, and he knew he should stop but for some reason he _couldn’t_ – as she continued to read, the tip of her thumb still between her teeth. She was the most wonderful sight he had ever laid eyes on. How had he not _noticed_ before? All those times recently he’d caught himself thinking how lovely she looked, all those late nights comforting each other through the stress of their circumstances, all those moments she’d sat down next to him and he’d felt his heart brimming over. The anger he’d felt towards that stranger in the bookstore today, and the way he’d damn near short-circuited when she kissed him. Of _course_ she was more than his best friend.

Something made her glance up and notice the way he was watching her – what, he would never know. “What’s up?” she asked, meeting his eye curiously.

“Uh–” David blinked away the daze, startled. Then he blurted, “I love you.”

Gwen smiled a little, bemused, and rolled her eyes playfully. “Love you too, geek,” she told him, returning her attention to the page in front of her.

And he let out a long breath. Well, it made perfect sense that she’d take it the way she always had. He’d said it often enough. And while the last ten minutes had felt like a hurricane to him, she was just reading her book. But now – embarrassed as he was of his feelings just tumbling forth from his mouth like that – the winds had died down. The edge was off.

He could breathe normally again.

He looked back at his own book, once again pretending to read as he mulled things over. It was like he had suddenly boiled over, but then enough water had escaped that he could calm back down, return to a safe simmer. And really, that felt much more manageable. He knew from experience that he was, for all his faults, fairly capable of keeping a major crush in check if he knew it was there. He’d had to do it before. It was just that his feelings for Gwen had taken him by surprise and left him a little winded, and he wasn’t used to that. Now that he had time to process them all, and even say something stupid and have it fortuitously misunderstood, he could handle things better.

Because this wasn’t the time. Maybe, if they were still at Camp Campbell and things weren’t so weird. But not now. There was too much on their plates, and complicating things by telling her he was in love with her was not going to help. It could wait. He could deal with it later.

“Oh,” she said, looking up again. “Before I forget. Jill’s badgering me about bringing you to a bar night again.”

“Yeah, she mentioned something about it to me, too,” he responded. “I ran into her while working.”

“Mm, she told me. I was thinking, I know we haven’t tested Katja yet, but maybe call Joe and see if he’s free next Saturday? Just for a few hours. I mean, it can’t hurt to try something different, right? Maybe he’ll have the constitution to deal with Max.”

David smiled easily, everything back under control like it should be. “Yeah, sounds good. I’ll call him tomorrow morning.”

“Cool.”


	13. Squid Ink

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David and Gwen take Max over to Joe's place and then spend an evening out with her friends. Everyone has a better night than they expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't MEAN to post things at one in the morning, it's just... that's when I do things
> 
> (I really love this chapter, I hope you do too. Remember, you can always check my tumblr @microsuedemouse for RAH bonuses, Camp Camp stuff, and more! Love you all!)

“Come on, Max,” David said again, in his gentlest voice. He was pleased with himself, actually. Somehow – to Gwen’s oft-mentioned disbelief – he’d learned, over the last few months, to be even _more_ patient with Max when the boy was being difficult. Some weird, proud voice in the back of David’s head suggested that within a couple more years, he might even be the world’s most patient man. “You liked Murphy, right? Wouldn’t you like to hang out with _him_ for a bit?”

Max groaned loudly. “Da- _viiiiid_ ,” he said, for the thirtieth time. David hadn’t been counting, but he was pretty sure. “Look at what happened to all those other babysitters! They were young, strong, and I broke their spirits completely without even _trying_. This guy’s a senior citizen. I’m afraid I’ll fucking _kill_ him.”

“Joe is made of tougher stuff than your average twenty-something woman,” David assured him. “ _Especially_ the kind who gets a job as a professional babysitter to pay off her student loans.” Glancing up to make sure that Gwen’s bedroom door was still shut, he cupped a hand next to his mouth and added softly, “He might even be made of tougher stuff than _Gwen_.”

“Gwen is a melty marshmallow inside a misleadingly scary crab carapace,” Max snarked back, but not without checking the door quickly himself.

“We’re not supposed to acknowledge that out loud and you _know_ it,” David warned in a hurried mutter.

Max groaned again, throwing his head back. “I just – do you guys _have_ to go out? I don’t know this guy, I don’t know how anything’s gonna go…”

David pursed his lips for a moment, suspecting a little bit of underlying anxiety that Max didn’t want to let on. “Come on, man,” he said. “Gwen hasn’t gotten to see most of her friends in months, and she’s… well, she’s been stressed lately. I think a night out is something she really needs. And taking me along is something she promised everyone she’d do. It’s just a couple of hours.”

Max looked at him again, frowning heavily. David felt guilty. He tried not to play the ‘we’re very stressed’ card often, not least because he knew Max was _just_ as stressed as they were (if not more), but he truly thought that an evening out would do Gwen a lot of good. He also didn’t think that Max would argue much with that one, because he’d shown more than once that he had a soft spot for Gwen. That was probably why he looked so unhappy now.

“What if this doesn’t work out, either?” Max finally asked.

“Then we keep trying new sitters until we find one that’s Max-proof,” David answered resolutely. “Gwen and I can’t possibly be the only people in the world capable of withstanding your presence.”

Max rolled his eyes. “Fine. Fine. But still, I don’t love this.”

“I know, Max,” David answered, his shoulders drooping slightly. “It’s just for a little while. We’re figuring things out.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Max sighed. “I’ll pack a bag.”

They left soon after, and David noticed that Max made a concerted effort not to whine any more when Gwen was within earshot. He appreciated that, and made a mental note to thank the boy later. They were at Joe’s within maybe fifteen minutes or so, and David told Gwen they’d just be a moment as he hopped out and accompanied Max to the door.

“You’re sure I won’t kill him?” Max asked again, drily.

“The man is like old beef jerky,” David answered. “I’m sure he’ll manage, no matter how much you chew.”

“Chewing on people is more Nikki’s area,” Max quipped back. “I’m more into the slowly-wearing-you-down. Like sandpaper.”

David snorted. “All right, sandpaper boy,” he said, crouching to look Max in the eye before they knocked on the door. “Give the man a chance, okay? I think he’s really interesting, and I have a feeling you might too. There’s more to him than meets the eye, I’m sure of that. And you can always hang out with Murphy – dogs are an easy thing to talk about when you don’t know what else to do.” He reached into the pocket of his green anorak and pulled a few treats out of his little baggie, pressing them into Max’s hand. “There you go. You’re all set. I’ll call Joe when we’re on our way back. You think you can manage it?”

Max sighed. “Yeah, I’ll be fine,” he answered, a little reluctantly. “Just don’t be out all night, okay? Like I said earlier, I don’t wanna _kill_ the dude.”

“You won’t,” David told him confidently, standing up to knock on the door.

Joe appeared quickly, a yapping Murphy barrelling out past him and weaving his way through Max’s legs, making the boy laugh. He was quick to offer up the treats he had while David and Joe talked.

“Thanks again, Joe,” David said, shaking the man’s hand firmly. “He’s already had dinner, and he’s got a few things to occupy himself if you run out of stuff to do. We’ll only be a few hours, and I’ll call you when we’re on the way back.”

“I’m sure we’ll be just fine,” Joe told him, that big, warm smile on his face again. “You and your gal go have a nice time. We’ll keep ourselves busy, eh, Max?”

Max glanced up, one hand still on Murphy’s head. “Uh… yeah. I’m sure.”

 

Gwen took a deep breath before pushing into the bar. She still wasn’t really gung-ho to introduce David to _all_ of her friends, because she knew they were going to make a fuss, but the longer she put it off the worse it would be. “Like ripping off a Band-Aid,” she told herself under her breath.

David close behind her, she glanced along the left wall, knowing where her friends liked to sit. She spotted them in one of the big half-moon booths near the back and set off, pulling David along by the wrist. A few of her friends noticed them on the way and waved excitedly. David waved back over her shoulder, oblivious to her dread.

“We made it!” she said awkwardly as they approached. “Here we are!” They stood next to the table, unbuttoning their jackets to hang up on the hook at the end of the bench. “David, you know Jill. Next to her is Tamayo, Kendra, Kendra’s boyfriend Chris, Martie, and of course Sanjay. Guys, this is David.”

David slid onto the less crowded end of the round bench, where Jill was patting the seat next to her, and Gwen squeezed in next to him. “It’s so nice to meet you all!” he said happily.

Gwen leaned forward so she could see past him. “Indira couldn’t make it?”

Kendra shook her head. “She’s with Kev tonight. He’s taking the breakup really hard.”

“Poor guy.” She waved to a waiter, who gestured that he’d be along in a moment. “Sanjay, are you gonna make a move on him this time, or just keep pining?”

Across the table, Sanjay sputtered, cheeks reddening under his warm brown complexion. “Oh, come on!” he defended. “Gotta give the guy a little time to heal.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Gwen said, rolling her eyes. “Just don’t miss your shot again, loser.” She turned back to David, nudging him to get his attention. “Fish sticks?”

“Are they as good as Jerry’s?” he asked.

“Almost,” she answered.

“Then yes,” he said with a grin. On the rare occasions they got to venture out of Camp Campbell together to the little bar in town, splitting a basket of fish sticks was tradition. The bartender there made the best appetizers – it was, at least in Gwen’s opinion, one of the tiny town’s most redeeming qualities.

Gwen waved down a waiter and gave him their orders, and then everyone at the table turned to face David. “So you work with Gwen in the summers?” Tamayo asked eagerly, leaning in. “We’ve heard a little bit about you over the years, but never much.”

“Gwen’s _terrible_ at talking about her life,” Jill teased. “I’m sure you haven’t heard much about us, either.”

“Well, no,” David admitted with a laugh. “But that’s okay! Not everyone likes to talk about their lives much.”

Gwen looked at him sideways, raising an eyebrow. That hadn’t been his opinion when he had badgered her their entire first summer together, trying to get to know her better. But if he was defending her now, she supposed she wouldn’t complain.

Gwen mostly let the others do the talking, sitting back and listening as her friends grilled David about how long they’d worked together, and did he have any embarrassing stories to tell about her (“Oh no, of course not,” he told them, and in her head she thanked him profusely), and where was he from, and how did he like New York so far, and how was the whole foster parenting thing? He fielded their questions fairly easily – years of practice playing verbal tennis with multiple children at once had made him good at it.

Gwen could tell that Jill was flirting a little – not heavily, because that wasn’t her style, but she was leaning towards him and laughing at everything he said and making little jokes of her own. David, however, seemed blissfully unaware, as friendly with her as he was with everyone. Gwen found that oddly relieving, and chalked it up to the sheer weirdness of the idea of him dating one of her friends, _especially_ Jill. That would be much too upbeat a relationship to bear. He sat close at Gwen’s side – keeping the fish sticks within reach as they ate – and she even caught him giving her arm a subtle squeeze under the table when she tensed up during a conversation about Max and how much _responsibility_ that must be and how none of her friends thought _they’d_ be able to take that on. The gesture surprised her, not least because it meant he was paying more attention to her than she realized.

She had been trying to get the waiter’s attention again for a while when David tapped her arm. “What are you after?” he asked. “It’s gotten so busy in here, I was just going to go up to the bar to ask for a glass of water. Can I get you something?”

“Oh. Uh, yeah. I just wanted another dark and stormy, if you don’t mind.” She got up to let him out.

“No problem. Be right back!”

She slid back into her seat, scooting closer to Jill for the moment. When she looked up, she caught Tamayo and Kendra smiling, amused, at her and Jill. She exchanged a puzzled glance with the girl next to her and then asked, “What’s up?”

Tamayo cracked a wide grin. “Well, it’s just that our poor girl Jillian has such a crush on your friend David,” she giggled.

“But David’s really paying much more attention to Gwen,” Kendra finished, laughing. The two of them did this a lot; they’d been best friends and self-titled ‘brain twins’ since childhood.

Jill blushed. “Come on, girls…”

“Wait, wait – what?” Gwen asked, taking in their implication. “Me and David? _Really?_ ”

“It’s nothing,” Kendra continued, still entertained. “He just sits really close to you, and you guys shared your food, and he’s getting you a drink…”

“Are you fucking serious?” Gwen asked, bristling. “Just because he’s known me _five years longer_ than any of you assholes–”

“They’re not wrong, though,” Chris chipped in, leaning forward. Everyone was listening now. “There’s a bit of that air to it. You guys have that whole comfy, intimate vibe…”

“Yeah, because we _live together,_ ” she squawked. “And have every summer for _five years_. Are you people crazy?”

“You two _are_ raising a kid together,” Martie pointed out, wagging her eyebrows. She was enjoying this as much as Tamayo and Kendra were. “I mean, you don’t do that with just anyone. It kinda seems inevitable!”

“Oh my god,” Gwen said, dragging her hands down her face. “I can’t fucking believe you shitheads.”

“Poor Jill,” Tamayo teased gently. “You gave it your best. Anyone who takes a sourpuss like Gwen over a sweetheart like you just isn’t paying enough attention.”

Jill laughed sheepishly. “Don’t be like that, Tam,” she said. “Gwen is such a catch! Who wouldn’t love her?”

“You’re all high,” Gwen added, irritated and well aware that no one was listening to her protests.

“Your boy’s headed back over,” Sanjay warned, looking into the bar crowd. “Maybe give the ladies a break, huh?”

“Thank you, Sanjay,” Gwen said. “You’re my favourite friend.”

“I’ve always been your favourite friend,” he said with a laugh.

David returned with the drink she’d asked for and two glasses of water. “Brought you some, too,” he said, putting one down in front of her. “You should stay hydrated. Don’t want you getting sick on me.”

“Thanks, David,” she answered quietly, moving out of his way.

“Hang on a sec, honey,” Jill interrupted as David moved to sit down. “Gwen and I were about to go to the ladies’ room!” She slid out of the booth and wrapped her arm around Gwen’s, leading her quickly across the room before she could protest.

“Jill, what’s–”

“Oh, honey!” Jill said, spinning around to face her as soon as they were in the washroom. “I’m so sorry! When you explained the whole Max situation to me, I thought that meant you _weren’t_ into David! You should have _told_ me. I just assumed, since he’s not really your usual type, but I shouldn’t have–”

“Wait, holy shit,” Gwen responded, throwing up her hands. “Are we still on this subject? Listen, there’s _nothing_ going on there, Jill. I swear. We’re just… coworkers-turned-roommates-turned-foster-parents. Or whatever.”

Jill crossed her arms and regarded her for a moment, lips pursed. “So you _don’t_ mind me flirting shamelessly with him?” she asked skeptically.

Gwen glanced away, laughing uncomfortably. “Jillian, if that’s what you call shameless…”

“I knew it,” Jill answered. “Look at you, you can’t even look me in the eye and say it. Oh, honey, I really am sorry. I didn’t know. I’ll back off, I promise. I didn’t mean to step on your toes.”

“ _Really?_ ” Gwen asked, pinching the bridge of her nose. “It’s like no one is even fucking listening to me. Might as well just go back to camp.”

“I would never do anything to jeopardize our friendship,” Jill told her, seeing right through Gwen’s deflections. “You’re more important to me than any man.”

 

David was being filled in on Kev’s breakup and Sanjay’s years-long, never-acted-upon crush on him when Jill and Gwen returned to the table. Jill smiled and thanked him softly when he got up to let her take her seat back, Sanjay looking relieved at the interruption. Gwen, on the other hand, looked a bit stressed, and as they took their seats again, he leaned close and murmured, “Everything okay?”

“It’s fine,” she muttered back, taking a long sip of her drink. He frowned slightly, unconvinced, and she sighed as she put her glass down. “Don’t worry about it,” she said this time, sounding less irritated and more tired. “Really. It’s nothing. I’ll be okay.”

“If you say so,” he said. Brushing a hand across her knee, he added, “Let me know if you change your mind.” Then he turned back to the conversation, having now wandered onto the topic of Martie’s job as a graphic designer. She was full of stories of weird and difficult clients she’d worked with in her time as a freelancer.

He was doing his best to pay attention, and mostly succeeding, but part of him was constantly attuned to the woman on his right. He had always paid attention to her this way – well, maybe not always, but in the last year or two he’d gotten more attentive – but in the last week he had certainly become more aware of it. The realization of his feelings for her had been overwhelming, and even though he had calmed down after that, he kept noticing things he did for her or around her – things he hadn’t given any thought to before, but suddenly saw all of the underlying motivations for now.

Something in the back of his head – something he managed to keep pretty quiet, all things considered – wished he could put an arm around her shoulders. Maybe it would ease some of the mild tension that still radiated off her. She was so quiet – listening to the discussion but never really participating. Maybe if she weren’t right out on the outermost seat?

At a break in the conversation, David excused himself to the washroom. When he came back and Gwen started to get up to let him back in, he shook his head and motioned for her just to move over, taking her seat on the outside this time. Now she was at least a little bit closer to everyone else. She was also beginning to relax as she neared the end of her second drink, he noticed gladly.

“You want another?” he asked with a smile as she put down her empty glass.

She blinked at him in surprise. “Really? You don’t have to, David! I know you only had the one…”

“Which is fine by me,” he told her. “Really – it’s nice to see you relaxing a little. You deserve a chance to unwind.”

When Gwen still hesitated, Martie shot her a dirty look from across the table. “Woman, you’ve been super stressed, this is the first time you’ve been out in _months_ , it’s Saturday, and that very nice man you brought with you is offering you another drink. _Take it_.”

“Well, fuck, when you put it like that,” Gwen snorted. Turning back to David, she said, “Yeah, maybe just one more isn’t such a bad idea. Maybe just a beer this time though? I think I’ve had enough rum.”

“Sure. What do you want?”

“Mm… surprise me. I’m not picky. Get me one of the pretentious-sounding ones with an animal in the name somewhere,” she told him.

David laughed. “You got it.” Getting up from the table, he flashed Martie a grin. “Thank you. She needed a nudge.”

“Anytime, my man,” Martie said with a nod.

He headed up to the bar and glanced over the beer menu, picking something out on instinct. Squid Ink? Sure. Waiting for the bartender to reach him, he glanced over his shoulder and watched Gwen as she laughed at something Chris was saying, and a soft warmth filled his belly. It was so _good_ to see her happy. Not that she never was at home, but still; she was so often stressed lately that he was glad to see her like this.

When he returned with her beer, she was grinning as she watched Sanjay and Martie draw faces on napkins with a  ketchup bottle. He handed her the glass, and she took a long sip, considered for a moment, and nodded. “I like it,” she told him.

“Good!” She had shifted somewhat in her spot, and this time when he sat down, he found his leg pressed against hers. She didn’t move, and the warm feeling spread. He had always been a physical person, and it wasn’t like some measure of closeness with Gwen was unusual to him, but it just felt _good_. Again he caught himself wanting to put an arm around her, but he resisted. He was happy just to be next to her, and to see her loosening up. He knew she didn’t like to go out a lot, but he had hoped that tonight would be good for her, since he knew she hadn’t gotten out of the apartment much at all since he and Max had moved in. “Glad I picked a good one.”

She smiled at him, and his heart burst.

The beer definitely took her from relaxing to _fully_ relaxed. It was rare for David to see her like this, though not as rare as it used to be now that they lived together. She got into conversation more, as he’d hoped, and laughed and teased and told stories. He loved every moment of it. For all that he’d been looking forward to meeting her friends, he spent much of the time fixated on her, on her pleasant glow and how it brought out some of the parts of her he admired the most – the whip-fast wit, the sense of humour, the bright-eyed excitement when they touched on a topic she liked. It was like the shell of self-doubt she so often wore simply slid away and stopped holding her back from saying and doing things she normally second-guessed.

“Ah!” she exclaimed at one point, after her beer was finished. She was working on her water, as he had encouraged her earlier. “You hear that? David, this was your favourite song last summer!”

He cocked his head to listen over the din of voices, and then there it was, drifting down from the speaker mounted overhead. “That’s the one!” he agreed, grinning. “Are you still tired of it?”

“Nah, I’m over it,” she told him. “Damn, I almost wish there was room to dance here somewhere.”

On her left, Jill exchanged raised eyebrows with Tamayo and Kendra. “Since when do _you_ dance?” she teased, nudging Gwen with her elbow. “I’ve only ever seen you do that when you were _super_ hammered!”

“Or trying to get laid,” Tamayo added with a giggle, earning the briefest of dirty looks from Gwen.

“Yeah, I guess, back in _college_ ,” she retorted with an eyeroll. Then she looked at Jill. “Since David, I guess? I don’t know. You spend enough time trapped in a cabin with a person and eventually you get to turning on the radio and then _eventually_ eventually… dancing. I never used to, but he does it all the damn time, and one thing led to another…”

Sanjay looked delighted. “I’d pay anything to see that,” he said, his smile enormous. He looked at David. “You, sir, are a miracle worker.”

David grinned. “I dunno about that,” he laughed. “But I’ve been told I’m very persistent, so I guess that’s something.”

Gwen’s improved mood lasted another three quarters of an hour, until everyone decided it was time to head home. Chris and Kendra were first to mention it, commenting that they’d been out most of the day and the cats would certainly be starving by the time they made it home; after that, everyone seemed to agree it was time to get going. David glanced at his watch and nodded.

“It’s almost ten,” he pointed out to Gwen. “We should go pick up Max, make sure that Joe survived.”

“Mm, I guess so,” she agreed good-naturedly.

“When do we all get to meet Max, by the way?” Martie asked. “Kid sounds like a _riot_.”

“That’s one word you could use,” David answered, brows furrowed.

“Not any time soon,” Gwen told her, pulling her jacket on. “He’s not a big people person, you know? Give him more time to adjust, and then maybe like... one or two of you at a time.”

“Oh, _okay_ ,” Martie agreed, feigning overdramatic disappointment.

On the way out of the bar, Sanjay picked up his pace to get Gwen and David’s attention. “Hey, Max is Indian, right?”

“Yeah,” David answered. “Uttar Pradeshi, he told us, if you’re looking for specifics?”

“So probably has a Hindu background then?” Sanjay asked. “I was just wondering, do you guys know if he celebrates Diwali?”

Gwen and David exchanged glances, eyebrows raised, then looked back to Sanjay and shrugged. “No idea,” Gwen admitted, a little sheepishly.

“Okay,” Sanjay said with a nod. “I was just curious, because it’s coming up in a few weeks, and if he wanted to get involved in some of the festivities, you guys could join my family. Our temple rents out a park to do the fireworks for Lakshmi Puja and everything. It’ll be a fun day. No pressure or anything, but I just figured – you know, if it would make him feel a little more at home, or something. I get that he’s kinda stressed and stuff, so just if he wants to.”

“He might?” David said hopefully. “He’s talked about missing his Nani and her cooking, so…”

“He gotta sweet tooth?” Sanjay asked. “Because we will be _loaded_ with desserts.”

“We’ll ask him,” Gwen told him. “I’m not really sure, but with him it can be hard to predict.”

“Cool,” Sanjay said, smiling. “Text me if you wanna come and I’ll give you the details. You know how my folks love having guests.”

“That’s true,” Gwen laughed. “Thanks, Sanjay. It’s really sweet of you to offer.” She threw an arm around his neck and yanked him into a goofy side-hug, making him laugh. Clearly he wasn’t unaccustomed to the gesture, because he hooked an arm around her neck in turn, noogieing her gently and then placing a friendly kiss atop her head.

“All right. Night you two. Good meeting you, David,” Sanjay said, offering a hand as he let go of Gwen. David shook it with a smile. “See you guys around.”

“Night Sanjay!” they answered as he pushed out the bar doors and jogged out through the parking lot and towards a nearby bus stop, just making the bus on time.

“He seems like a really nice guy,” David commented, stopping to brace his foot against the wall of the bar and fix a shoelace.

“He is,” Gwen agreed, nodding. “I’ve known him since my first semester of college. Just a really thoughtful, friendly dude. A good friend to have. Great study buddy, too. We used to sit in the backs of lectures and rank the other guys in the class by hotness.” David chuckled.

David’s shoe properly tied once again, they were about to head for his car when Gwen paused and put up a finger for silence. Watching her in curious amusement, David stopped, then immediately realized what she was listening to – though the bar patio was empty due to the evening chill, the outdoor speakers were still playing music, this time another song that the two of them had heard on the radio often the last summer.

“I love this one,” she said with a grin.

“And here I thought I was the Mumford and Sons fan between the two of us,” he laughed.

“It might’ve grown on me a bit,” she admitted, grabbing one of his hands. “I just didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to get smug.”

“Smug!” he cried, feigning offense. “I wouldn’t have gotten smug!”

“You absolutely would have,” she teased, closing her eyes and twirling under his arm. “‘I told you they’re great, Gwen! You just had to give them a chance!’ As if I wanted to listen to _that_.”

David’s eyes sparkled as he watched her bob and sway along with the rhythm, cheerful and tipsy, one of his hands clasped in hers.

“Are you going to dance with me, or not?” she asked, still not opening her eyes.

“Okay,” he breathed, enchanted. Beaming and ignoring the butterflies bursting in his stomach, he let her take his other hand and spin him around before bouncing back, her sneakers crunching in the gravel on the sidewalk.

The rest of the world melted away for a minute while they danced on the pavement outside of a bar, both laughing at the silliness of it.

All too soon the song ended, and they caught their breath and walked back to the car and set off. Gwen was still in a great mood, and that alone put David in a great mood. Once again his stomach was full of that warm, fuzzy feeling he’d felt earlier, and part of him wanted to drive all night, listening to her hum contentedly along with the radio. But, of course, there was Max to pick up, and David couldn’t help feeling a little curious how Joe had fared as babysitter.

They pulled up to the curb outside of Joe’s townhouse less than half an hour later, and David let Gwen stay where she was, slipping up to the door to get the boy by himself. Joe, Max, and Murphy all answered together, Max looking to be in surprisingly good spirits himself. He crouched down to say goodbye to the dog with a scratch between the ears, then stood and waved to Joe. As he trotted down the front stairs, David lingered a moment.

“How’d the evening go?” he asked, a little nervously.

Joe grinned. “Oh, he’s a surly kid, certainly, and rough around the edges, but I figured him out pretty fast. We had some snacks, played fetch with Murph out back, and then sat down to go through my records and chat for a while. Played a little cards. We get along okay, I think.”

“Yeah?” David asked, thrilled to hear it. It was far and away the most positive response they’d gotten from a sitter yet. “That’s amazing!”

“If he’s interested in coming back, I’ll gladly take him again,” Joe offered. “I don’t do an awful lot these days, and I can’t say I mind having some company, even if he’s a tough nut to crack. Let me know.”

“I will!” David said, taking Joe’s big hand and shaking it firmly. “I’m so glad to hear it. I’ll be in touch, okay?”

“Sounds good!” Joe agreed affably. Scooping Murphy up, he bid David a good night and shut the door.

Joining Gwen and Max in the car, David was practically shining with good cheer.

Max was just about bursting with _something_ in the back seat, wiggling in place. As soon as David’s seatbelt was done up, the boy blurted, “Did you know Joe was a Black Panther?”

David paused, then exchanged glances with Gwen, uncertain what to think. He could kind of see why someone might _say_ that, just to pacify a kid like Max.

After a second, Gwen shrugged. “If he was, all the more power to him,” she said. She raised a fist. “Respect.”

“David, I- I’ll go back to Joe next Wednesday, if you want,” Max said, seemingly struggling between his natural inclination to be difficult and his excitement at this new person he’d discovered. “He’s – he’s old, but he’s kind of cool. And Murphy’s good.”

David looked at the boy in the rearview mirror and smiled. “Yeah,” he said. “I think we can arrange that.”

He had to bite down on a colossal smile as he leaned forward and turned his key in the ignition again. On his right, the most amazing woman in the world, leaning her forehead against the window and smiling in a way she didn’t often do. Behind him, a boy he’d come to know as angry and scared and tired, grinning and excited after spending the evening with someone new. David could scarcely imagine how the world could be a happier place just that moment.


	14. Hallowe'en

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Max's first whole, real Hallowe'en. Gwen's doing her best.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hiii this took a million years and I'm SO so sorry, my life has just been weird and busy and I can't always afford to prioritise RAH! hopefully the next chapter will come much more quickly, but I can't make any promises. I've got a major personal project I'm trying to finish in the next couple weeks, plus I'm back in school, so you likely won't see another chapter until at least February, but I guess we'll find out!
> 
> I know this one isn't one of the longest or most exciting, but it has a lot of details I really like, and I hope you do too. (: cheers!

“Why are we here?” Max asked, staring up at the pop-up Hallowe’en store that had taken over an empty building in a plaza a few blocks from the apartment. “It’s not like we have a yard.”

“I know,” Gwen said wistfully. “But I just really love Hallowe’en. And the season isn’t complete if I don’t get to go at least _check out_ the decorations and stuff. Plus, don’t you wanna go trick-or-treating? You’ll need a costume.”

Max hesitated, looking uncertain for a moment. Gwen quirked a curious eyebrow, and then he shrugged and said, “I guess I’m not opposed to free candy.” He tucked his hands into his hoodie pocket and followed her inside.

Max liked Hallowe’en more than was convenient for his surly, cynical personality. He couldn’t accuse it of being a corporate holiday, like he might with Valentine’s Day or Easter, because that was _exactly_ what it was. There was nothing very religious about Hallowe’en – the whole point was to buy dumb costumes and decorations, gorge yourself on candy, and scare the shit out of people, if you were so inclined (which he was). There was no deeper meaning to complain that people had lost. And really, what kind of sad eleven-year-old didn’t love receiving candy for free? All you had to do was put on a stupid outfit and show up to people’s doors. Unless he wanted to _really_ stretch and compare it to socialism like that was derogatory, he really couldn’t say anything bad about it.

He and Gwen wandered through the seemingly-endless decoration displays for a while, snickering to themselves every time they saw another patron jump when they accidentally set off one of a thousand motion-activated monsters. “David would _die_ in here,” Max observed, standing under a fake stone arch and staring up at the huge spider that dropped rapidly down each time he moved, then reeled itself slowly back up.

“Oh, absolutely,” Gwen giggled, holding out two different door hangers and trying to choose between them. “I would’ve tried to bring him along just to watch, but the trip was easier to fit in on an afternoon after school, before he gets home…”

“I like the ghost better,” Max told her, glancing at the decorations in her hands.

“Yeah, I’m leaning the same way,” she agreed with a nod, putting back the witch. She turned to see the bloodied, black-eyed baby doll Max was holding up and snorted. “Ugly.”

“No kidding,” he chuckled, inspecting the thing more closely. “I dunno, the gross baby thing doesn’t quite do it for me. But neither does blood in general, so…”

“Yeah, I’m on the same page,” she told him. “I don’t mind some blood ‘n guts, but with babies it just seems… tasteless? I dunno. Spooky kids I can get behind, but tortured ones are just kind of a bummer.” She shrugged one shoulder.

“Yup.” He put the doll down and trotted after her as she moved on. “I like my horror less in-your-face and more psychological, I think. At least then it feels like it’s _trying_. Gore doesn’t take any creativity.”

Gwen laughed and glanced down at him again. “This from the kid who’ll marathon four brainless action movies in a row, given the chance.”

“Hey, action movies are different!” he argued, grinning. “With those I’m not looking for something _interesting_ , I just wanna see stuff exploding and people yelling.”

“Fair point.” She approached a wall display and looked up at a rack full of window clings. “You wanna get some of these? You can put ‘em up if you want.”

Max surveyed his options for a moment, considering. Then he pointed to a package of bats and another of spiders. “I like these ones.”

“Nice choices,” she said with a nod, tossing them into her basket. “I can for sure get into that classic Hallowe’en imagery. Ooh, and that reminds me, I wanna get spiderwebs to put all over the balcony.”

Max followed her with a bit of a smile, and suddenly he was a little grateful it was just him and Gwen for this trip – sometimes David still couldn’t help himself from getting a little too excited every time Max seemed to be having a genuine, non-nefarious good time. Gwen was more relaxed about it. He knew David just wanted him to be happy, but it was hard not to get embarrassed and uncomfortable when he always made such a big _deal_ about it.

Watching Gwen pick out a bag of fake spiderwebs for the railing, Max considered their decorations so far. He appreciated the super-dramatic, horror-heavy ones up at the front of the store, but they also felt a little overwrought. He wasn’t inclined to admit it, especially because it might seem too kiddish, but he had a certain fondness for the classic Hallowe’en motifs: spiders, black cats, bats, jack-o’-lanterns, ghosts, witches, old-school monsters… something about them was enticing. Maybe it was just because his parents only sometimes let him participate in Hallowe’en and had never gotten very invested themselves. His best Hallowe’en yet had still been nothing but a simple costume and supervised trick-or-treating with a friend and his dad – there were never any decorations at home, nor any holiday spirit.

“Any thoughts on costume, bud?” Gwen asked as they rounded a corner into the first costume aisle. “I’ve got a budget, I’m sure you’re aware, but aside from that I’m up for whatever.”

Max faltered. Part of him had thought he’d adjust to making his own decisions like this by now, but it was still overwhelming. With his parents, choices had been limited at best: this or that. A or B. Gwen and David always seemed to just open their arms towards a seemingly infinite array of possibilities and tell him to go for whatever he wanted. It was more than he knew what to do with. “Uh.” He tried to form an excuse, not fond of showing how much these kinds of things took him off-guard. “I hadn’t really thought about it. Give me a minute, I guess.”

“Take your time,” she told him, peering at something on the rack to her right. “We’re not in any rush.”

“Okay,” he said slowly. She seemed content to just wait for him, so he began to putter his way down the aisle, trying to take it all in. At first it was overwhelming, so he tried to go section by section: pirates? Cowboys? Cops? Definitely _not_. Food costumes were right out, and animal costumes soon after. He made a sour face at the obligatory racist ones, then glanced around , curious if there were security cameras anywhere. Spotting what he was pretty sure was one, he gave it a hard look, pointed to the costumes, and then gave the camera two middle fingers.

Finally he got to what interested him – monsters. All the standard fare was present: skeletons, ghosts, vampires, zombies… Max chewed his lip for a minute or two, thinking. He pushed packages side to side, comparing his options. Eventually, hesitantly, he pulled one off its hook and returned down the aisle to Gwen. “Uh… is this one all right?” he asked awkwardly.

She had a look and then grinned. “For sure, bud,” she said with a nod, holding out her basket. He dropped the package in. “You wanna help me find a set or two of those pumpkin-carving tools so we can get outta here before I blow all my money on a life-sized Frankenstein figure?”

Max laughed outright. “Why would you do that?”

She pointed at the figure in question, looming at least seven feet tall by the wall. “I mean, look at him. I want to take him home and put him in the corner next to the TV. He’s gorgeous.”

Max rolled his eyes and began pushing on her hip, steering her away from the dummy. “No way that ugly son of a bitch is taking over the whole living room. Come on, let’s go.” She snorted and let him direct her away.

 

David had made Gwen promise to wait until he was home for carving pumpkins, and she complied. As they had probably expected, Max scoffed at the idea for a while, but eventually he allowed himself to be persuaded. In fact, he was a little excited to give it a go, if uncertain. He had always thought jack-o’lanterns were kind of cool, though he wasn’t sure how well he’d do on one himself. David cut the top off his pumpkin for him, showing him how to angle the cut so the ‘lid’ would rest on top properly, and then they rolled up their sleeves and got to digging out the seeds.

“Oh, gross!” Max cried, looking at his slimy hand in a mixture of disgust and delight. “You didn’t warn me!”

“Sorry,” David said with a sheepish grin. “Yeah, it’s kind of weird. But at least we brought them inside overnight, so they’re not cold! It’s way worse when they’ve been outside and they’re all cold.”

Gwen, meanwhile, was grinning widely, brows lowered in an expression of horrible joy. She had both arms inside her pumpkin up to the elbows. “I don’t know what you two are talking about,” she said. “This is the best shit in the _world_.”

Max looked up at her and couldn’t help laughing. She looked cartoonishly silly, some kind of evil madwoman cackling over her gutted pumpkin. But it suited her, somehow. He glanced over at David, then sighed and looked back down at his task – David was watching Gwen with stars in his eyes, always so excited to learn something new about her. Especially if it was about something she loved. _God_ , Max thought to himself – David really was too obvious. He could afford to turn it down a notch or twelve.

They emptied all of their pumpkin seeds into a big old mixing bowl, which Gwen put aside to roast later, and then got to work on the carving process. David was a little too enthusiastic about walking Max through it all, Max thought, and eventually he chased the man back to his own pumpkin and demanded to be allowed to work in peace. David did his best to comply, and to help shut him up Gwen rinsed her hands and put on a Hallowe’en playlist she found online.

Once David left him alone, Max got into the project a bit, his brow creasing in concentration. He wasn’t particularly artistically inclined, he knew, but he had a general idea of what he wanted to achieve. David was the first to finish his pumpkin – he had the smallest one – but Gwen kicked him in the leg when he tried to sneak around the table to peek at Max’s work in progress. Gwen finished next, and then politely sat and waited for Max to be done.

“I… guess I’m finished,” Max said finally, frowning and putting down his knife.

“Time to share!” David said excitedly. “I’ll go first!” He turned his pumpkin around to reveal round eyes and a big, cheerful smile with a couple of blunt teeth.

Gwen giggled. “Cute, David,” she said, rolling her eyes. He grinned, oblivious to her mild sarcasm, though perhaps willingly so.

“Thank you! What about yours?”

“Here we go.” Gwen had the biggest pumpkin, and had to heave with both arms to turn it for them to see. It had a big smile, too – but it was wide and full of sharp, jagged teeth, above which were two mean eyes with slitted pupils. “His name is Edgar and he eats any living thing that’ll fit in his mouth.”

“Oh!” David moved his own pumpkin away slightly, as if that was a threat. “Gwen, he’s excellent!”

“Thank you,” she answered with mock modesty. Then she turned to look at Max. “Can we see yours, man?”

Max made a face, then nodded. “Yeah, I guess so.” He turned his pumpkin to face them. It had angry eyes pointing in two different directions, and a gaping mouth full of short, pointed teeth. “I’ve never carved a pumpkin before, so… I guess it went okay.”

“I love it!” David cried, jumping to his feet. “Gwen, do we have candles? We should test these guys in the dark!”

“What kind of dope do you think I am, David?” she chastised, amused. “As if I could _possibly_ forget candles for Hallowe’en.”

Max rolled his eyes and pushed his pumpkin over towards David’s, getting up to wash his hands. A few minutes later, as David excitedly photographed the glowing pumpkins in a darkened kitchen, Max surreptitiously took a single quick shot of his own and sent it to Neil and Nikki. It wasn’t long before he received enthusiastic responses and blurry photos of their own jack-o’lanterns in return.

 

On Hallowe’en night, Max donned his costume slowly, feeling equal parts excited and strange. This all seemed very new and peculiar. He’d always kind of wanted to participate properly in the holiday, but he’d never gotten the chance, and now that he had it he didn’t quite know what to do with it.

Well, at least that much was familiar.

Gwen and David provided a lot of opportunities he’d never had before. And not even in the same way they had at camp, where the opportunities were for activities he had absolutely no interest in being part of. Here, at home, it was choices. It was engagement with the world. It was genuine, normal-person fun. Max liked to be bitter and cynical – it was familiar, and it meant never really being disappointed, only either proven right or pleasantly surprised. And frankly, his pride was invested in his cynicism by now. He couldn’t drop the act _now_. That would be _embarrassing._

Nonetheless, he had the sense to be grateful once in a while. Even if he found himself confused or lost or uncertain, he understood how much they were doing for him, and that it was good for him ultimately. Certainly he appreciated being treated better than he used to be.

He wasn’t good at showing gratitude, he knew. Though he suspected David and Gwen could read him well enough by now to recognize when he was trying. Or sometimes even when he wasn’t. He wasn’t comfortable with it, true, but sometimes he could tell that it was important enough to put his dignity aside for. Thanksgiving was coming up, at least; even if it was a fucked up holiday, it would be the right time to say something. Especially to David’s mind.

Had he thanked Gwen for the costume yet? Shit. He’d have to make sure he did that.

He regarded himself in the mirror for a few moments, still uncertain, then crossed to the door and opened it a crack. “Gwen?” He heard a muffled response from the washroom. “I’m dressed…”

The bathroom door swung open. “You still wanna do your face?” Gwen asked.

“I think so.”

“Okay, then come on in, bud.”

Oddly self-conscious, Max darted across the hallway and into the washroom. Gwen already had her Hallowe’en makeup out on the counter, in the midst of painting garishly-bright blood pouring down her chin. She put down the red stick and turned to Max as he perched on the closed toilet. “Okay, let’s see what we can do here…”

Max was relieved that David didn’t interrupt. He was doing his best to sit still for Gwen, even though it was hard; he knew if David came in the process would end up taking twice as long. Trying not to squirm restlessly, he watched Gwen’s intent expression as she painted details onto his nose, cheeks, and lower lip.

“All right,” she told him after ten minutes or so. “I think we’re set! Wanna have a look?”

He hopped off the toilet and turned to look in the mirror over the sink, grinning at the sight. “Hey, you’re a pretty good artist,” he commented, confident enough that the compliment wouldn’t make its way back to David’s ears.

“Not especially, I don’t think,” she answered, already back to painting blood on her chin.

“But this looks really good,” he told her, pointing at his nose. There were fangs on his lip and whiskers on his cheeks, but it was the canine nose painted over top of his own that he was really impressed with.

She made a face in the mirror, half amusement and half grimace. “I uh… I went through that obligatory ‘ _I-love-wolves_ ’ stage in middle school. Spent, like, way too much time drawing them. Some things just get trained into your brain eventually.”

Max laughed. “Oh, you were one of _those_ kids, huh?”

Gwen looked down, eyebrows raised, and then apparently decided on self-deprecation over dignity for the evening. “Let’s be real, Max, I still _am_ one of those kids,” she said drily. Max laughed again, a barking sound that suited his costume.

He looked in the mirror again, turning his head side to side to check it all out. With the dark ears protruding from his hair and the cheap false fur sticking out through every hole in his plaid shirt and jeans – including tears and slashes – he made a pretty good werewolf. Gwen’s makeup really cinched the look. He was smiling like an idiot, he realized, and he tried to scowl, but he couldn’t. In spite of himself, he was excited about it. He had never had the chance to dress up like this before.

“Thanks, Gwen,” he said quietly, pulling the paw-gloves out of his pockets and putting them on. “For everything.”

“No problem, little dude,” she answered. “Now, you should go show David. He’s been so curious what costume you picked.”

“I know, I know.” David had been trying _very_ hard not to pry, distracting himself with the excitement of handing out candy to the little kids who came around early, but it had been clear since early afternoon that he was _desperately_ curious to find out what Max had decided to dress up as. Max sighed, set his shoulders, and exited the bathroom.

“Whaddaya think?” he asked, stepping into the living room and stretching out his arms. David looked up from the television, where he was watching that ancient Charlie Brown Hallowe’en special, and absolutely lit up.

“I love it!” he cried, leaping to his feet. He crossed the room to walk a circle around Max, inspecting the costume from every angle. “You found a werewolf costume with black fur that matches your hair, that’s amazing! And you even have a little _tail!_ Max, this is amazing!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Max said, rolling his eyes. He already felt self-conscious. “I’m just in it for the free candy, you know.”

“Can I take pictures?” David asked excitedly. “I want to send one to my mom!”

“Fine, but hurry it up,” Max told him, putting his hands on his hips. “I wanna get a move on.”

“Yeah, I’m almost ready,” Gwen called from the bathroom. “We should get going soon if we wanna cover much ground before it gets too late.”

 

Half an hour later Max and Gwen had finally gotten away from David and were about halfway through making their rounds of the apartment building. Max looked again into the pillowcase in his hands. He wanted to be snarky – wanted to complain about the cheap candy, or something – but he couldn’t quite bring himself to do it. He had never had a real Hallowe’en before. For all that he was normally very good at being unnecessarily rude and ungrateful, the words wouldn’t quite emerge this time.

Gwen was being cool, too. He wasn’t allowed to go trick-or-treating unattended, but she stood back from the doors when he knocked, let him do his thing. She was doing her best, he realized at some point, to offer him as normal an experience as she could. She returned the waves of neighbours who recognized her, and she snarled playfully at little kids who stared at her bloody makeup and long black cape, but she let Max take the lead for the night. He appreciated that. He had already said thank you once tonight, and probably wasn’t going to say it again, but he hoped she got the picture when he tossed her a candy bar he knew she liked, complaining that he’d never been fond of them himself.

When they were finished with the apartment building – twenty-five units, most of which were handing out candy – they emerged onto the street below and Max glanced up at her. “So… where next?”

“Well,” she told him, “That’s really up to you. The closest residential neighbourhood is like a five minute walk west, but I also heard that some of the small businesses on the street behind us were giving out candy, if you want to try there. You’re the one getting the treats, though, man, so it’s your call.”

He blinked, surprised. “Oh. I… uh.”

Gwen smiled a little, amused. “What’s up, man? Is two options too many?”

“I mean, yeah,” he blurted. Then, embarrassed, he looked down at his feet and swallowed heavily. Even without looking at her, he could tell she was waiting curiously for an explanation. “I just… you always give me so many goddamn choices,” he said quietly.

There was a pause. “You’re not used to that, huh?” she asked, crouching next to him.

Max shook his head. He wanted to saying something else, to diffuse the tension or change the subject, but nothing was coming to him.

“I know this is another decision,” Gwen said slowly, “But do you want to pick where to go next, or do you want me to?”

Max took a deep breath, thinking. Then he said, “Let’s try that neighbourhood a few minutes away?”

“Sounds good.”

 

“I’m a little worried he’ll have a stomach ache in the morning,” David quibbled after Max went to bed, gnawing his lip nervously.

Gwen laughed softly. “Every kid deserves to gorge themselves after Hallowe’en – especially if it’s their first one. If he gets a stomach ache, then he learns a lesson.”

“I guess you’re right,” David sighed. He crossed the living room and sat down in his chair, managing to put away his concern and shoot Gwen a smile when she sat down next to him. “Well, how’d he do, then? You guys were gone for almost two hours.”

“Pretty well,” Gwen said, drawing her legs up into her chair and then reaching down into the box on the floor. They’d bought more candy than they needed, and now she was helping herself. “Some choice paralysis when I let him pick the route. Partway through I suggested he not think about it at all – just walk, just make the first turn you come up with every time. That helped a bit. He was tired by the end, but I mean, that’s no surprise – it was a lot of walking. He was in a good mood, though, as you saw.”

David nodded, smiling. “It sounds like you gave him some good advice.”

“I’m _riddled_ with anxiety, David,” she joked. “You think I got this far without learning to deal with choice paralysis, at least _some_ of the time?”

“I guess you have a point,” he laughed gently. “Well, I’m glad it all went well. He deserves it.”

“Yeah, I know.” She unwrapped another chocolate bar, broke it in half, and tossed him a piece, laughing when he utterly failed to catch it. “You wanna do anything tonight?” she asked, watching as he picked the chocolate carefully out of a fold in his sweatshirt.

“Like what?” he asked, and when he glanced up at her his happy expression and eyes full of affection almost took her voice away for a second. It was such a simple thing, and yet it had such a profound impact on her – the way that David could wrap so much love into a simple interaction, into things that had no inherent connection to love whatsoever.

“It’s the last night to watch shitty horror movies on TV all night,” she suggested, grateful that her voice only caught once, just a tiny bit, at the beginning of the sentence. “We can go back to being responsible adults in November, right?”

David grinned. “Yeah, that sounds good,” he told her.


End file.
